Outstanding Service Award — Dorothy Martin, Travel Specialist

Outstanding Service Award — Dorothy Martin, Travel Specialist

Travel Agent Honored for Commitment to Expanding Social Impact of Judith’s Reading Room

July 3, 2024 — In pursuit of its mission, “to enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy,” Judith’s Reading Room, a literacy nonprofit based in eastern Pennsylvania, honored Dorothy Martin, Travel Specialist with Grand European Travel (GET) for her compassion to improve the lives of at-risk youth in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Martin received the organization’s Outstanding Service Award and will be acknowledged during the dedication of Judith’s Reading Room’s 107th library in Edinburgh on August 10.

At a meeting in September 2023 in Tigard, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, Judith’s Reading Room introduced its capability to offer curated libraries with books in English to local schools and established its hope that through the good offices of GET, the organization’s mission would be communicated to travelers and travel agents alike.

Judith’s Reading Room will dedicate its library at Heavy Sound, a nonprofit organization in Edinburgh that serves care-experienced youth.  The curated collection of 124 graphic novels valued at $2,456 was achieved through the collaboration of The Scottish Book Trust.

“An innovative way to step up the expansion of our organization’s presence around the world is to link up with travel organizations that are committed to making a positive social impact in the communities they visit.  GET is exactly that kind of organization, evidenced by its compassionate travel specialist Dorothy Martin, its TreadRight Foundation and ‘Be My Guest’ initiatives,” said Cathy Leiber, President, Judith’s Reading Room.

Travel organizations like GET understand that American travelers are looking for deeper connections and experiences such as when travelers read to children in local schools.  This is where Judith’s Reading Room comes in, as the organization is set up to provide the perfect books in English for the school, orphanage, day care or community center.

Including Edinburgh, Scotland, Judith’s Reading Room will have dedicated 107 libraries in 24 countries with 133,000 books donated worth more than $1.4 million.  The organization’s 2024 goal is to expand library donations across Europe.  Currently, Judith’s Reading Room has created 5 libraries in Romania, two in Albania, and one in The Kyrgyz Republic.  Following Scotland, the organization will dedicate its tenth library in Europe and its 108th library in Prague, Czech Republic in November.

For more information, visit www.judithsreadingroom.org.

 

Outstanding Service Award — Barnes and Noble

Outstanding Service Award — Award to Barnes & Noble

April 21, 2024

Ms. Erin Cornish
Manager, Barnes & Noble
2960 Center Valley Parkway, Ste. 742
Center Valley, PA  18034

Dear Erin, Amy and Kayla,

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Judith’s Reading Room please accept our appreciation for the effort you all put into finding, ordering and organizing 124 curated teenage Graphic Novels so that we could sweep into your store and prepare the books for shipping — all in a matter of an hour.  You may consider that this was your job.  I would agree but I would make sure you understood that your expertise in knowing where to look is phenomenal and greatly appreciated.  For this outstanding contribution to Judith’s Reading Room, we name the three of you recipients of our Outstanding Service Award.

We will ship the books to Heavy Sound in June so that they arrive near the time of our trip to Edinburgh so that we can enjoy the look on their faces when we open the boxes together.  Photos will tell the story!!

Make no mistake about it:  we appreciate you more than you will ever know and we consider ourselves so lucky to have your assistance.

Warmest regards,

Cathy L. Leiber, Co-Founder

 

Outstanding Service Award — Emmaus High School

Outstanding Service Award — Emmaus High School

April 21, 2024

Emmaus High School, Attn:  Amy Kaunitz
500 Macungie Avenue
Emmaus, PA  18049

Dear Rebecca, Amanda, Elena, Giulia, Abby, Caroline and Amy,

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Judith’s Reading Room, a global literacy nonprofit based in Berks County, PA, I’m writing today to express our heartfelt gratitude for your spectacular effort during the recent Book Fair at Barnes & Noble Center Valley on behalf of Judith’s Reading Room.  Your sweet encouragement – persistence – saleswoman-ship! –  resulted in a whopping gift card for our organization in the amount of $1,148.52.

You will remember that Judith’s Reading Room encouraged you the day of the book fair to inform patrons that their generosity would result in the purchase of teenage graphic novels for Heavy Sound near Edinburgh, Scotland.  We had promised Heavy Sound that we would invest $2,000 in books to establish our 107th library in our 24th country.  So, you see, you helped us achieve more than 1/2 of that commitment.  That is HUGE.

You may visit our website at www.judithsreadingroom.org to learn more about our 106 libraries established so far, along with our annual Freedom Through Literacy Awards.

Warmest regards,

Cathy L. Leiber, Co-Founder

 

Outstanding Service Award — Ana Luhrs

Outstanding Service Award — Ana Luhrs

 

April 21, 2024

Ms. Ana Luhrs
Easton, PA  18042

Dear Ana,

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Judith’s Reading Room please accept our greatest appreciation for your constant collaboration with our organization to improve the scholarship that underlines our library formations around the world.  In specific, we recognize you for researching the topic of Reluctant Readers and Graphic Novels for our 107th library to be donated August 10, 2024 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Please accept our humble thank you along with this Certificate acknowledging you as an Outstanding Service Award recipient.

Warmest regards,

Cathy L. Leiber, Co-Founder

 

 

The Outstanding Service Award

NEWS RELEASE

CONTACT: Cathy Leiber
www.JudithsReadingRoom.org

 

Judith’s Reading Room Announces Its Latest Award

“The Outstanding Service Award”

February 15, 2024 — In recognition of the outstanding collaborations and volunteer service to fulfill and exceed the mission of Judith’s Reading Room, it was announced today that members of the public and service providers will be gratefully acknowledged throughout the years.

Non-profit organizations, like Judith’s Reading Room, that do not have budgets for paid staff must rely on the self-less contributions of volunteer members of the board of directors and for others who step up to expand the communications efforts in a complicated world where good news is often ignored by local and national media.

In recognition of Outstanding Service to Judith’s Reading Room, the organization wishes to acknowledge its first recipient:

*  Ms. Joellen Reichenbach, owner, Select Sales – Creative Marketing Solutions, Asheville, NC for spreading the word about the 2024 ‘Freedom Through Literacy Award” by engaging with all public libraries and school districts in the Asheville, NC area.

Judith’s Reading Room, a 501 (c) 3 organization based in Pennsylvania was founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, cousin to the founders, and a distinguished librarian with a 40 year career at the American Library Association as its Director for Intellectual Freedom.  To date, Judith’s Reading Room has established 106 libraries in 23 countries with over 133,000 donated books valued at $1.4 million.  It’s signature annual “Freedom Through Literacy Award,’ now in its 10th year, acknowledges champions of literacy from around the world.  Cash prizes in the amount of $58,500 have been distributed to 71 champions of literacy from 18 countries.

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