Books for Children of AIDS Patients

We are delighted to once again donate books as holiday gifts for children of AIDS patients at Bay State Health. 

Pictured is Kristen Benjamin, a RN working with HIV/AIDS patients in Springfield, Massachusetts. We worked with Kristen to match up a book specifically for each child.

More books are Heading to Bolivia!

More Spanish-language books are on their way to Arani, Bolivia.

The donation is part of Reader to Reader’s partnership with the KUSIKUY, a social enterprise business that is working to retail the alpaca fiber clothing crafted by the village’s knitters.

As part of the partnership, Reader to Reader is donating computers, Spanish-language children’s books, and a  collection of business marketing books that have been requested in order to help support the educational needs of local entrepreneurs.

At an altitude of 9,400 feet, the village of Arani is located in the center of Bolivia, and has a population of  3,512.

Editorial: Reader to Reader Exports Hope with Books

Thursday, November 10, 2016
Daily Hampshire Gazette

Page by page, an Amherst nonprofit continues to fight educational inequality by shipping free books to disadvantaged communities.

But there is more to Reader to Reader than tons of paper. This novel program, founded by David Mazor more than a decade ago, exports hope.

Yes, hope, that thing with feathers, as Emily Dickinson once ventured. “That perches in the soul - / And sings the tune without the words - / And never stops - at all -”

While best known for its book donations, Reader to Reader works to advance literacy – and the economic hope literacy ignites – in impoverished communities beyond this country’s borders.

Mazor’s program also serves as a lifeline to intrepid students from the Five Colleges inspired to design and launch their own global literacy projects.

Books remain the coin of the realm. Starting late last month, Reader to Reader made its latest book donation to schools in Native American communities in the Southwest — one of its oldest efforts.

Schools in New Mexico and Arizona are receiving more than 52,000 books worth half a million dollars. The program’s simple goal is to get books into the hands of children in underfunded schools, believing that reading lights fires of curiosity that, once kindled, cannot be extinguished.

As Reader to Reader has grown, new corporate relationships enable it to get many more books into schools like the Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools in Gallup, New Mexico, and the Central Consolidated Schools in Shiprock, New Mexico. Both are receiving books in the latest shipment, along with the Ganado Unified School District in Ganado, Arizona, the Hopi School District in Keams Canyon, Arizona, and the Tuba City Unified School District in Tuba City, Arizona.

The program crossed the 50,000-volume mark on this donation thanks in part to its ties to the Scholastic Corp., Pioneer Valley Press, Soho Press and other publishers.

A library staffer in the Gallup-McKinley schools, which are getting 14,000 books, says the program’s impact on students will be “profound.”

Separately, more than 21,000 volumes are headed to the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona. Reader to Reader is also shipping books to a Native American community that’s been in the news – the Standing Rock Reservation, whose members are fighting a pipeline project and reached out to the Amherst program for help to improve the library at a South Dakota campus of Sitting Bull College.

Not surprisingly, there’s been mission creep in the Reader to Reader ranks for years. Students from local colleges continue to serve as tutors and reading mentors. Many do that here in the Valley, as several did with the Summer of Power program for five weeks this year in Holyoke by helping students improve their English language skills. The program says 200 Five Colleges students, working in Massachusetts and New Mexico, are mentoring 1,400 low-income young readers.

Further afield, Reader to Reader continues to assist efforts, sometimes through its Springboard Program, to advance literacy in places like Managua, Nicaragua, Arani, Bolivia, and Santa Cruz, Costa Rica. The Springboard Program helps college students do global good.

They include the four students from Amherst College who’ve been improving a three-room public library in the village of Santa Cruz.

Reader to Reader does seem like “the thing that never stops,” as Dickinson wrote.

In that same poem, she said of hope: “I’ve heard it in the chillest land - / And on the strangest Sea - / Yet - never - in Extremity, / It asked a crumb - of me.”

For information on how to support Reader to Reader’s efforts, and perhaps provide some financial crumbs, visit readertoreader.org.

$500,000 in New Books to Native American Schools

(Photo: Lincoln Elementary students in Gallup, New Mexico get new books on Halloween)
•
By SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writer/Daily Hampshire Gazette
Tuesday, November 01, 2016

AMHERST — Children of Navajo Nation and Hope Nation who attend schools in New Mexico and Arizona are receiving $500,000 worth of new books following a donation from an Amherst-based literacy organization.

A total of 52,126 books are being shipped directly to the various school districts in the Southwest for distribution, said David Mazor, founder and executive director of Reader of Reader.

“We are pleased to make this large donation in order to get as many books into the hands of children,” Mazor said.

The books, which are of general interest for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, are provided through Reader to Reader’s partnerships with Scholastic Corporation, which runs the Scholastic Possible Fund, and Pioneer Valley Press, Soho Press and other publishers.

Among the school systems receiving the books are the Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools in Gallup, New Mexico, the Central Consolidated Schools in Shiprock, New Mexico, the Ganado Unified School District in Ganado, Arizona, the Hopi School District in Keams Canyon, Arizona and the Tuba City Unified School District in Tuba City, Arizona.

Providing books for Native American schools represents a long-term commitment that has been taking place since 2005, Mazor said. In the past decade, Reader to Reader has donated more than $3 million in books.

The Gallup-McKinley schools will get 14,000 books, which are already being given out to students, including at Lincoln Elementary in Gallup.

“These books will have a profound impact on the children in our district,” Mary Lindenmeyer, library media coordinator for the schools, said in a statement.

In addition, the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona will receive over 21,000 books.

Reader to Reader also donates books to the Red Lake Nation in Minnesota and the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, and this week began working with the Standing Rock Reservation after its members asked for help in stocking books in the library of the McLaughlin, South Dakota campus of Sitting Bull College.

Over 200 Mentors in Reader to Reader's Read, Think, Share Program

There are already more than 200 students from seven different colleges work as reading mentors in our Read, Think, Share program this year, helping students in middle school and high school become more confident readers and writers.

Here, eight of our newest mentors from Amherst College take part in a follow-up training to help them build their own skills at working with students.

The college students are working with 1,400 low-income adolescents in Massachusetts and New Mexico.

Donating Laptops to Alabama Students

The freshmen on the SpeakFirst team in Birmingham, Alabama, show off their laptops donated by Reader to Reader.

The group is guided by SpeakFirst’s Mary Byrne, formerly an intern and reading mentor at Reader to Reader during her years at Amherst College. She’s now doing great work in Alabama.

Reader to Reader's Computer Donation Program donates new and refurbished computers and e-readers to schools and outreach organizations all across the world.

Reader to Reader Key Part of Holyoke's Summer of Power

This summer, Reader to Reader was pleased to once again be part of Summer of Power (SoP) at Holyoke High School. SoP is a summer enrichment program that allows incoming ELL (English Language Learners) 9th graders to work on their English oral and written skills.

Ten Reader to Reader tutors hailing from UMass, Amherst College, Hampshire College, and Smith College assisted in the classrooms as students practiced their English, often through expressing their identities and values.

Over the five weeks of the program, it was wonderful establishing a rapport with the students and watching the friendships grow among them!

Young Readers Enjoy Books in Nicaragua

Young readers enjoy books donated by Reader to Reader to the Podcast for Peace project in Managua, Nicaragua.

One of the projects initially launched through Reader to Reader’s Springboard Program, Podcasts for Peace is a youth-focused community center that enriches the lives of over 400 young people.

About the Springboard Program

Reader to Reader's Springboard Program brings Five College students into the world of non-profit work through the development and implementation of their own international or domestic literacy project. This program guides students through the entire process, teaching them the skills necessary to lead their own literacy project and giving them unparalleled leadership opportunity.

Reader to Reader assists Amherst Summer Achievement Academy

As part of our Literacy Explorers program, Talia and Sam, two of our summer interns, spent time working with students in the Amherst Summer Achievement Academy at Crocker Farm Elementary School -- a program that offers a fun place for kids to sharpen skills environment and a great antidote to summer learning loss!

We worked with age groups from kindergarten to 5th grade to provide one-on-one and group reading support. Here, Sam and Talia read and discuss Roald Dahl's Matilda with 5th graders.

A special thanks to the Amherst Woman's Club and Amherst Regional Public Schools for making our participation possible

Computers on their way to Bolivian village

Two refurbished Dell Optiplex computers have begun their journey to Arani, Bolivia.  The computers will be used to teaching coding to teenagers living in the village.

The donation is part of Reader to Reader’s partnership with the KUSIKUY, a social enterprise business that is working to retail the alpaca fiber clothing crafted by the village’s knitters.

As part of the partnership, Reader to Reader is donating computers, Spanish-language children’s books, and a  collection of business marketing books that have been requested in order to help support the educational needs of local entrepreneurs.

At an altitude of 9,400 feet, the village of Arani is located in the center of Bolivia, and has a population of  3,512.

Reader to Reader supports Nigeria Reads

Dear Reader to Reader,

It's being a while I updated you on our progress. Many thanks for your kind support and donation of books to Nigeria Reads. Currently, we have kicked off literacy clubs within our libraries to engage users with the books and study materials and foster learning amongst peer groups after school hours.

Also, I will be visiting Maiduguri. In particular, Biu and Bama where they have IDP camps, to kick off our mobile libraries. I will need your support with a book donation for the IDP camps, potentially there are over 20,000 persons at the camp. I have planned to support the IDP camps with about 1,000 children books as most of the children are out of school to compliment their learning at the camp.

Thank you for your continuous support to Nigeria Reads and improving the literacy of Nigerians.

Kingsley Sintim,
Nigeria Reads

College Students Chart New Path for Beyond el Campo Project

For the seventh straight year, Reader to Reader’s Beyond el Campo team is spending the summer in the village of Santa Cruz, Costa Rica, helping strengthen and support the village’s public library.

The team is made up of four Amherst College students, who spend their days working on the infrastructure of the library and running literacy programs for the village’s children and adults.

Among the first infrastructure tasks they tackled this summer was the building of a concrete path to the library, and painting the library’s exterior.

About Beyond el Campo

Founded in 2009, Beyond el Campo established and supports 3-room public library with over 3,000 books, a computer lab, and a space for teens. The library serves the immediate community of over 2,000 people. 

The college-student-led project provides educational programming, including book groups, summer reading camps and after-school study support.

Beyond el Campo, a project of Reader to Reader's Springboard Program, seeks to combat the issue of educational inequality in Costa Rica by providing essential tools and educational resources to inspire success. Its goals are to provide a public space that serves as a community center for learning and creative engagement; to equip that space with resources that connect students with their own passions and interests; and to offer educational programs and workshops open to the entire community.

Athena Program Reaches Teen Moms

 

Summer truly feels like it's begun at Reader to Reader when we have our annual Athena Interactive Literacy Program, which connects teen mothers from Holyoke's Care Center with community partners to foster empowerment in different areas of their lives. During the year moms work towards their GED at the Care Center, an alternative education program which seeks to "help them grasp how powerful they are, give them the tools to learn and provide them with an exciting and engaging learning environment." These sentiments echo Reader to Reader's own attitudes in our global literacy efforts, and now in its seventh year, Athena is a weeklong program that builds skills to help these young families thrive and learn.

Nutritional literacy is a major component of Athena. Local chef Bill Collins kicks off mornings with breakfast and wraps up afternoons with lunch. Each meal is accompanied with discussions centered around grocery shopping on a budget, balancing the demands of preparing a meal with young children around, simple and quick but nutritious meals, and various cooking tips, tricks, and stories. The moms even get to try their hand at food prep and cooking throughout the week!

Between meals, a range of activities give the moms a chance to express their voices. One of our college interns led a spoken word poetry workshop and later in the week, we took a trip to Northfire Recording Studio for a recording session. This year's selection of poetry include themes of family, love, and motherhood. 

The week's other project, board book making, was filled with laughter, casual discussions, crafting fun, and sweetest of all, sharing baby and toddler photos.

In addition to exploring their creativity, the moms explored financial literacy with Florence Bank and children's book and writing for different audiences with Phantom Tollbooth author Norton Juster. 

It was a week of learning for all involved: the moms themselves, Reader to Reader staff and interns, and the community partners who so generously shared their time and knowledge with us. Fittingly, we closed the week out with a celebration at the Care Center which allowed other Center students and staff a glimpse of what we were up to all week. 

We are so grateful to have been able to spend Athena week with participating moms and we will continue to cheer them on in their aspirations!

Reader to Reader's Dennis Quinn Named 2016 Mass Literacy Champion

Dennis Quinn of the Amherst-based literacy organization Reader to Reader has been named a Mass Literacy Champion by Mass Literacy.

Mass Literacy, a non-profit organization supporting literacy education in Massachusetts, recently announced the six winners of the 2016 Mass Literacy Champions Awards. 

The program publicly recognizes and rewards Massachusetts' educators who have shown exceptional commitment and results through their work in literacy education.

Award winners will receive a $1000 grant for program development and a professionally produced video to promote the work of their organization valued at $1000.

Mass Literacy selected six Mass Literacy Champions, including Springfield resident Dennis Quinn. Dennis is the Director of Mentoring Programs and supervises the Read, Think, Share program for Reader to Reader, which is based in Amherst on the campus of Amherst College.

Read, Think, Share is a web-based initiative that partners students from low-income backgrounds with college student mentors, to improve reading and writing skills and foster a love of reading.

Dennis has grown the program from serving 22 students to over 1,300 in West Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee and surrounding towns.

For his Mass Literacy Grant project, Quinn will bring the Read, Think, Share program to a brand new school, serving 30 more students. The grant covers all books, supplies and training for the program.

The Mass Literacy Champions Awards program enables literacy providers to share their most promising practices with their peers and serve as ambassadors for literacy. 

Each 2016 Mass Literacy Champion will complete an innovative literacy project that will be shared with the statewide literacy community.  Seventy-six Mass Literacy Champions have been recognized since 2003, and together they represent the diverse literacy community that makes Massachusetts a national leader in education.

Reader to Reader Donates 15,000 New Children's Books to Area Schools

Peter Goonan | pgoonan@repub.com 

Masslive.com

Reader to Reader, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding literacy and learning, recently launched its annual Spring Book Extravaganza for the planned donation of 15,000 books to schools in the Springfield area.

The organization, based in Amherst, gives away tens of thousands of books annually to schools and outreach program in the region including an annual book giveway to those schools.

The Spring extravaganza is in its sixth year, and began on April 28, with hundreds of boxes of books lining the hallways of Belcher Elementary School in Chicopee, the host site, awaiting pickup by area teachers, according to the organization

As of May 9, a total of 21 schools had come and picked out books for their students and there were still thousands of books available, said David Mazor, the founder of Reader to Reader.

The books are brand new and are available to schools in Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee and West Springfield, according to Reader to Reader. The books span a wide range of ages and interests and include grade levels pre-K to 12, officials said.

"These books are part of our ongoing support for the Reading Success by 4th Grade Initiative," Mazor said. "Increased access to books is a key factor in raising literacy rates."

"Year after year, Reader to Reader has been an amazing resource for our district," said Samuel Karlin, principal at Belcher School. "We look forward to this great spring book event every year."

Schools interested in picking out books should contact David Mazor at .this website address.

Reader to Reader's Spring Book Extravaganza is sponsored by Chicopee Savings Bank.

Reader to Reader Helps with Literacy Support in Bolivia

KUSIKUY is proud to be partnering with Reader to Reader to bring a free donation of brand new books to the children of Arani, Bolivia.  

Arani knitters will use the books to help improve literacy in their town.

A small colonial town an hour's drive from the city of Cochabamba, Arani has little internet access and is plagued by drought, poverty and migration.

Almost 30% of the town's original 3,500 inhabitants have moved elsewhere in search of jobs and a better livelihood.

However Arani is also the home of one of KUSIKUY's finest knitting groups, La Imillia.

The La Imillia knitters will be the ones directing the book donations and distribution.

In December KUSIKUY will bring more books computers and technical games, to share with local students.

In addition to books for children, Reader to Reader is donating a Spanish-language collection of business marketing books that have been requested in order to help support the educational needs of local entrepreneurs.

A Big Thank You From Haiti!

Everyone at Lekòl Kominotè Matènwa (Matènwa Community School) here on the island of Lagonav in Haiti sends a huge "Mèsi anpil!" to Reader to Reader! Thank you so much!

The many French books you donated to our library have been useful, fun, and exciting. The huge French dictionary has been especially useful; students and teachers look up words in it every day. One of our eighth-graders borrowed the book explaining racism for four or five weeks straight, and told me she found it really interesting. And everyone is fascinated by "Des Enfants Comme Moi/Children Just Like Me," a book sharing photos of the lives of children around the world.

Meanwhile, your donation allowing us to buy more books was especially important for us, because we were able to spend the money in Port-au-Prince. Too much of the money sent to Haiti ends up going right back to support companies overseas, but your gift let us support Haitian bookstores, publishers, and even street vendors. It also let us buy books that are relevant to our community, including guides to birds, vegetables, and medicinal plants of Haiti, picture books that take place here, and classics of Haitian literature. We bought 35 beautiful new books in French and Haitian Creole. Only a few are in this photo-- the rest have already been borrowed by eager students and teachers!

We are so grateful for your donations that feed our students' curiosity and imagination.

--Meg Holladay
Matènwa Community School
Haiti

Exploring College Builds College Readiness

Our Explore College with Reader to Reader program gives kids a day on a college campus, as part of our effort to foster college readiness.

Studies show that the more times a child visits a college campus, the higher there chance of going to college.

Recently, we had a wonderful visit from our 6th grade students at Zanetti School in Springfield, Massachusetts! We showed them around the campus of Amherst College, let them explore museums, took them to lunch, and sent them home with lots of new books.

As you can see, reading is contagious!

A Delicious Reader to Reader Fundraising Event Featuring Chef Bill Collins!

Join us at Whole Foods Market in Hadley on Thursday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. for a delicious fundraising dinner event to benefit Reader to Reader.

For 15 years, Reader to Reader has been dedicated to expanding literacy and learning opportunities for the nation's most chronically underserved and vulnerable communities – with much of its work focused on Holyoke and Springfield.

You can help support this mission in a most delicious way – at an appetizing dinner event hosted by Whole Foods Market in Hadley, with food prepared by personal chef, author, and TV culinary celebrity Chef Bill Collins, who appears weekly on Channel 22's Mass Appeal.

Chef Bill will be demonstrating and serving four tantalizing courses, with accompanying beer and wine tastings, in an evening of equal parts learning, eating, and doing good.

The cost of admission is $75.

To do the most good, bring your check tucked in the pages of a children’s book (new or gently used) that you want to donate! All proceeds will benefit Reader to Reader, and all books will go to at-risk students in local schools.

Advanced reservations are required. Seats are limited, so contact Dennis Quinn at dquinn@readertoreader.org to reserve your space.

Menu:

Appetizers
Cheese/Charcuterie Board
American BBQ Pork Pot Sticker Dumplings

Salad
Simple Asparagus Salad in Parmesan Crisp Cups

Main Course
Pan Seared Scallops with an Orange/Grapefruit/Ginger Reduction Sauce
Rib Eye Steaks with a Red Wine and Bleu Cheese Sauce
Polenta Surprise du Jour

Dessert
Bananas Foster with Vanilla Ice Cream

Reader to Reader Donates Thousands of Books to Mississippi’s Public Libraries

Those who use their library regularly know how great it is to find new books on the shelves. That’s why we are so pleased to announce Reader to Reader’s Mississippi Book Project is bringing thousands of new mystery novels to public libraries throughout Mississippi.

The donation comes thanks to the generosity of book publisher SOHO Press, which has donated thousands of its mystery titles for the effort.

“We are very grateful to SOHO Press for making this donation possible,” Reader to Reader executive director David Mazor said. “SOHO Press has so many outstanding titles and series that mystery fans love, and we are excited that we can bring them to libraries throughout Mississippi.”

Reader to Reader’s Mississippi Book project was launched in 2002, and has brought tens of thousands of books to schools and public libraries across the state.

Book Your Vacation!

We dropped off hundreds of books for a "Book Your Vacation" event at Glenwood Elementary in Springfield, Massachusetts. 

Book Your Vacation gives out books to stem learning loss during school vacations and summer breaks. 

We gave out a lot of books to carry (one for every student), but these two students, George and Jose, happily helped us bring box after box into the school. Thank you so much for your help, guys, and a big thank you to Lori Black, the Instructional Leadership Specialist at Glenwood, for setting up the event for the students!

Read on, kids!

Literacy Organization Donates Thousands of Books to Navajo and Hopi

Katherine Locke, Reporter 
Navajo Hopi Observer

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - School children on and around Hopi and the Navajo Nation received tens of thousands of new children's books over the holidays to take home thanks to Reader to Reader, a Massachusetts literacy organization.

Reader to Reader works on improving literacy in Arizona and New Mexico, across the United States and internationally.

"We pleased to make this large donation just before the holidays in order to get books into children's hands that they can enjoy over winter vacation," said David Mazor, founder and executive director of Reader of Reader. "We had the option of donating these books to any school districts in the country but we selected the districts that are on and near the Navajo and Hopi Nations as part of our ongoing support of literacy for Native children. We especially thank our partner Scholastic Inc. for the mountain of books they have donated."

Mazor said the organization was contacted about a dozen years ago by a school on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.

"We started helping them build their school library and over time it grew to be a bigger effort with more schools and school districts," he said. "It just got bigger and bigger and bigger."

Over the past decade, Reader to Reader has donated over $2.5 million in books, computers and school supplies to school it has worked with on or near the Navajo Nation and the Hopi reservation.

"We help supply a lot of different things depending on the needs of the school," Mazor said. "We reach a whole lot of different schools that range from one end of the Navajo reservation to the other and also on the Hopi reservation."

Among the school systems receiving thousands of books are: Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools, Gallup, New Mexico; Central Consolidated Schools, Shiprock, New Mexico; Ganado Unified School District, Ganado, Arizona; and Hopi School District, Keams Canyon, Arizona.

"We are so happy to be a recipient of Reader to Reader's and Scholastic's generosity," said Mary Lindenmeyer, library medial coordinator for Gallup-McKinley County Schools in Gallup, New Mexico. "They are such an amazing organization that has had a profound impact on the children in our district."

In all, Reader to Reader is donating 17,000 new books for grades kindergarten through grade 12 totaling $200,000 dollars. The books are provided by Reader to Reader through its partnerships with Scholastic Corp. through The Scholastic Possible Fund, Pioneer Valley Press and several other leading publishers.

The organization works with the publishers for what would be of interest or appropriate to where the donation is going because it donates books all around the world and every place is different in what the kids need and what the kids are interested in. The donations sometimes include textbooks, too.

Mazor said part of the reason for founding the organization was the critical shortage of books in lower income communities around the country and the world.


"I wanted to directly address that problem," he said. "Books just open up and give you a doorway to unlocking imagination. On a practical level, the better you read, the better your job prospects are when you grow up, but also, the more you'll know about the world. Reading itself is such a pleasurable experience that when kids get more books in their lives, they enjoy that."

© Copyright 2016 Western News&Info, Inc.

Hurricane Relief Books Reach the Bahamas

Over a thousand books and school supplies donated by Reader to Reader have reached the Bahamas, where they will help restock schools destroyed by Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015.

We are very happy with the response:

"There is an amazing assortment of books from your group!"

Hurricane Joaquin, which at its peak had wind speeds of 155 MPH, was only the 20th Category 4 or 5 hurricane to impact the island nation in historical records dating all the way back to 1851.

Schools were severely damaged with many losing all their books, computers, furniture and school supplies.

Many homes were completely destroyed, with 87% of the homes on Crooked Island totally destroyed.

We are pleased to be part of the relief effort, and are continuing to ship textbooks, fiction and nonfiction for all grades, and school supplies.

2,500 Books for Maine Children

SANFORD, MAINE - Thousands of low-income children in York County will be taking home new children’s books, thanks to Reader to Reader, a literacy organization based in Massachusetts.

The books were donated to York County Community Action, located on Spruce Street in Sanford. YCCAC will distribute the books to low-income children of all ages in the area.

In all, Reader to Reader is donating 2,500 new books with a total value of $25,000.

The books are being provided by Reader to Reader through its partnerships with Scholastic Corporation through their The Scholastic Possible Fund, Pioneer Valley Press and several other leading publishers.

"Reader to Reader's generous donations of multiple shipments of books have allowed us to offer books to all of our 2,000-plus children that we serve, as well as their older siblings," said Jennifer Quimby, the WIC Program Director at York County Community Action.

David Mazor, the founder and executive director of Reader of Reader, made sure to get the books to YCCAC in time for Christmas.

"We are pleased to make this large donation just before the holidays in order to get books into children’s hands that they can enjoy over winter vacation," he said in a press release a few days before the holiday.

Reader to Reader has a long history of donating books to school and outreach programs in Maine, and has donated over $200,000 in books during the past decade. Based in Amherst, Massachusetts, Reader to Reader, Inc. is a non-profit organization that distributes books and computers to schools and libraries in need. It has donated over 5 million books to schools and libraries in need across the United States and in 19 countries.