Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Books Fill a Need in Thoreau






Ophelia Hu, Reader to Reader’s new Navajo Outreach Coordinator, visited the Thoreau Community Center in Thoreau, NM.

Reader to Reader conducted a needs assessment during our visit in May and Ophelia was delighted to see the more than 1,000 books we donated are now on the shelves.

The community center was the brain child of a Juliana Ko, who moved to the small town to teach 8th grade math as part of a two-year service commitment. She spotted an abandoned building and went about securing it as a gathering place for local teens. A gathering place was desperately needed to combat the hopelessness that encouraged gang activity. Even worse, the town bore the weight of 15 teen suicides and 90 reported attempts.

Ophelia is spending the year living and working on the Navajo Nation where she will work on the expansion of our Navajo Mentoring Program and College Knowledge Program.



Funding for the Navajo Outreach Coordinator position comes in part from the Hiatt Family, the Fordham Street Foundation, John & Elizabeth Armstrong, and Lynn & Jean Miller.

Friday, September 21, 2012

College Students Gather for Launch of Fall Mentoring Program

More than 50 college student reading mentors gathered for the launch of the fall 2012 Read, Think, Share Mentoring Program.

Throughout the year college students will be reading books with hundreds of school children grades 5-10 and corresponding daily online.

This year marks the sixth year of the mentoring program, which works with low-income elementary, middle school, and high school students in Arizona, Massachusetts, and New Mexico.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Reader to Reader Creates Navajo Outreach Coordinator Position

We are pleased to announce that Ophelia Hu has joined Reader to Reader's staff as our new Navajo Outreach Coordinator.

Ophelia is a 2012 graduate of Amherst College. She will be based full-time on the Navajo Nation in Arizona, working with schools in Arizona and New Mexico, helping them take advantage of our Mentoring program and College Knowledge Program.

In addition, she will lead ACT prep workshops and assist the St. Michael Indian School in cataloguing the 2,000 books we recently donated to their school library.

Reader to Reader’s Navajo Outreach Coordinator is funded through the generous support of the Fordham Street Foundation, the Hiatt Family Foundation, and Jean and Lynn Miller.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Thousands of Books for "Read While U Wait"

We are pleased to report that thousands of books are being given out each year at Reader to Reader’s “Read While U Wait” Room project at the Department of Transitional Assistance and Dept. of Housing & Community Development in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

The project is directed by volunteer Lisa Heyison, who has done an incredible job of running the project for the last eleven years.

”Read While U Wait” provides books for all ages from newborn through high school.


The children and parents who come for support and assistance at the Department of Transitional Assistance in Roxbury are always thrilled when they receive a book as wait times can be anywhere from 1 to 6 hours. In the “Read While U Wait” room children can play and be read to while they wait with their parents for either Emergency Housing or financial assistance for food.

Support for Read While U Wait comes in part from OneUnited Bank.