Room to Read Changing the World One Child At a Time

Free inspiration!! Check out the Room to Read website, where they believe that "world change starts with educated children." In less than nine years this non-profit has impacted the lives of over 3.1 million children in the developing world by:
Constructing 765 schools
Establishing over 7,040 libraries
Publishing 327 new local language children's titles representing over 2.8 million books
Donating over 2.8 million English language children's books
Funding 6,817 long-term girls' scholarships
These figures are as of December 31, 2008. Room to Read posts its result numbers quarterly.


According to the history on their site, "John Wood, Founder and Executive Chairman, launched Room to Read after a trek through Nepal. He visited several local schools and was amazed by the warmth and enthusiasm of the students and teachers, but also saddened by the shocking lack of resources. Driven to help, John quit his senior executive position with Microsoft and built a global team to work with rural villages to build sustainable solutions to their educational challenges.

...John wove proven corporate business practices with his inspiring vision to provide educational access to 10 million children in the developing world.

Room to Read began working with rural communities in Nepal in 2000 to build schools and establish libraries. The organization's geographic reach expanded rapidly as significant needs and opportunities were identified in Vietnam (2001), Cambodia (2002) and India (2003). The Asian Tsunami in December 2004 provided a catalyst for entry into Sri Lanka followed shortly by Laos. In 2006, we expanded to our second continent by launching Room to Read in South Africa, and we began work in Zambia in 2007. In 2008, we began operations in Bangladesh and will commence program activities in 2009."

This is a well organized, informative website, easy to navigate and worth a visit, if only for the inspiration. Opportunities to help are clearly listed and defined and anyone can lend a hand to this valuable mission, "changing the world one child at a time."

Copyright 2009 Creekside Education & Susie Williams

Contact me: creeksideeducation@gmail.com

Contents of this Blog are copyrighted by Creekside Education and Susie Williams and may only be used or reproduced for non commercial purposes and must include the following credit; "This information is copyrighted by and used with the permission of Creekside Education Blog by Susie Williams."