Laptops, Books, and More on the Way to Zambia

Blessed Ngoma is working to open a community center in Zambia, and we are delighted to help with the project. 

We are donating laptops, books, puzzles, games and even a laptop projector.

Blessed Ngoma is graduate student at the University of Massachusetts and works as a Permanency Coordinator at Becket Family of Services in Brattleboro, Vermont. 

He is working with his friends back in his native Zambia to open the center in early 2019.

Laptops Donated Around the World

Laptops are on their way to villages in Bolivia, Ecuador and Zambia, all courtesy of  Reader to Reader's computer donation program.

The laptops heading to Ecuador are being hand-carried by high school students that are spending their year studying abroad.

The laptops for Bolivia arrived earlier this summer. Here is a family in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, enjoying their laptop donated by Reader to Reader.

Our laptop donations to Bolivia included three laptops to Parque Machía, a wildlife sanctuary.

And Blessed Ngoma is working to open a community center in Zambia, so we are donating laptops, books, puzzles, games and even a laptop projector.

Mountain of Books & Computers Heading to the Navajo Nation

Blistering 90-degree heat and stifling humidity couldn't stop our latest shipment to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

More than 400 boxes of books, 31 Dell PCs, and 9 iMacs are on their way to the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona.

The books will fill shelves at the Navajo Nation Library and its branch libraries in Kayenta, Arizona,  and Crownpoint, New Mexico.

In addition, books and computers are being donated to the Red Mesa High School in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, and St. Michael Indian School in St. Michaels, Arizona.

Over the past decade, Reader to Reader's Navajo Nation Book Drive has donated over 200,000 books, and hundreds of computers to libraries and schools on the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation.

22,000 Books for Schools in the Springfield Area!

Our annual Spring Book Extravaganza, which is now in its ninth year, gave out over 22,000 new children’s and young adult books.

The books were provided by a number of leading publishers, including Scholastic Book Fairs, and Pioneer Valley Press.

The total value of the donated books exceeded $350,000.

Librarians, teachers and staff from a host of schools in Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, South Hadley, Sunderland, and West Springfield loaded up their cars, vans and pickup trucks until they could hold no more.

"There were teachers lines up ready to go when the doors opened for the three-day event,” David Mazor, executive director of Reader to Reader, said. “It’s always a very joyous event, as so many teachers are starved for resources for their schools. To be able to provide it for free is something we are proud to have done for almost a decade.”

A special thank you to the Chicopee Savings Bank Charitable Foundation for their sponsorship of this event.

Athena Program Creates Dynamic Learning Environment for Young Mothers

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In mid-June, Reader to Reader hosted a group of mothers from the Care Center for the Athena program, a week-long program aimed at imparting financial and nutritional knowledge, and empowering the mothers to realize that they have their own powerful stories within them through writing and recording spoken word poetry.

This year marked the ninth year of the Athena program.

Everyday, Chef Bill Collins cooked us breakfast and lunch, showing the mothers sample menus and illustrating the health and cost benefits of home-cooked meals as opposed to fast food options. Chef Bill also demonstrated cooking skills, such as carving a chicken and creating simple syrup.

One of our favorite activities during the week was helping the mothers make picture books for their children. They filled their books with pictures of their children and quotes, and wrote heartfelt messages to read to their children. As they worked, they relayed stories about their experiences with pregnancy and childbirth, including all the joys and pains of motherhood. The moms also showed off pictures of their babies and shared funny anecdotes.

Early on in the week, we also led a spoken word poetry workshop with all of the moms where they wrote poems that spoke to their experiences as mothers and with their families. On Tuesday, we went to record the poems that the moms wrote at Northfire Recording Studio in Amherst. While there, the studio’s power went out, interrupting our session, but fortunately, we were able to go back on Wednesday to finish all of the recordings. On the final day of the Athena Program, we went to the Care Center and played the finished recordings of the mothers’ poems for them and their classmates, to celebrate the great work they did this week, all while drinking delicious smoothies.

Another one of the highlights was a financial literacy workshop that was presented by Florence Bank. The mothers learned about budgeting, credit-ratings, and how to manage a debit and credit card.

Throughout the week the mothers received free books and clothes for themselves and their children.

It was a busy week filled with lots of different activities, and perhaps most importantly, lots of delicious food—we had a lot of fun, and can’t wait to create more memories next year!

Reader to Reader Donates $300,000-Worth of Books to Springfield-Area Schools

Reader to Reader, a global literacy organization based in Amherst, Massachusetts, is giving away tens of thousands of new children’s books to schools and outreach programs in the Springfield, Massachusetts-area.

The organization’s Spring Book Extravaganza is donating 22,000 books valued at over $300,000.

The annual event is in its eighth year, and hundreds of boxes of books line the walls at the Chicopee Public Schools Maintenance Department waiting for teachers to pick out what they need for their classrooms.

Chicopee Public Schools serves as the host site of the event each year, and teachers fill cars, vans and trucks with mountains of books.

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

“It’s an exciting event,” David Mazor, Reader to Reader’s founder. “There were teachers, principals and administrators lined up at the door when we opened at 9:00am!”

David Mazor, Reader to Reader’s founder, adds that "these books are part of our ongoing support for the Reading Success by 4th Grade Initiative.  Increased access to books is a key factor in raising literacy rates."

Reader to Reader’s book donations draw praise from teachers and school administrators.

“The books we picked out today are unbelievable!” Margaret Betts, librarian at Maple Elementary in Easthampton, said. “It is an amazing bookfair. Thank you so much for supporting our school in this way. We are lucky to have Reader to Reader partnering with us!"

The event is sponsored by the Chicopee Savings Bank Foundation. Donating publishers include Scholastic Books Fairs, Pioneer Valley Press, and Home Grown Books.

$120,000 in New Books for Hurricane Harvey Relief in Houston

Our Hurricane Harvey relief efforts continue. More than 8,000 new books for children and young adult readers will be given out by the Houston Independent School District.

The books have a value of $120,000.

Thank you to Scholastic Book Fairs for making this donation possible!