Give Your Books a New Home! Whole Foods Market in Hadley and Reader to Reader Team Up For Literacy

• Book drive runs June 3-9, collecting at Whole Foods Market in Hadley, MA.
• New or gently used books for grades K-5 are the strongest need; also accepting books for grades 6-12.

**For immediate release**

May 9, 2013

HADLEY, MASS -- If your kids have outgrown their books, give them a new home! Whole Foods Market in Hadley is holding a book drive to support Reader to Reader, a literacy nonprofit based in Amherst that donates new and gently used books to under-resourced schools and libraries across the country.

The book drive will run June 3-9. You can bring your new and gently used books for grades K-12 to the Hadley Whole Foods Market. There is a strong need for K-5 books as well as any nonfiction, particularly in the sciences. If you have several boxes or need assistance, please call Reader to Reader’s office at 413-658-5572 to set up a time to drop them off.

The need is great. According to the Handbook of Early Literacy Research, in middle-income neighborhoods the ratio of age-appropriate books per child is 13 to 1. In low-income neighborhoods the ratio falls dramatically to 1 book for every 300 children.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Whole Foods Market to get more books in the hands of children,” says Reader to Reader’s executive director David Mazor. “So many communities across the country are in desperate need of books.”

Reader to Reader staff will be onsite at Whole Foods Market on Wednesday June 5, 2:30PM-5PM to answer your questions about the organization and its programs.

About Reader to Reader
Reader to Reader, Inc. is dedicated to expanding literacy and learning opportunities for the nation's most chronically underserved and vulnerable communities, including inner-city schools, Native American reservations, and poor rural towns. Learn more at their website: www.readertoreader.org.