Room to Read Volunteers: Rolling Up Their Sleeves to Support Literacy

Volunteers are the lifeblood of most non-profit organizations, and Room to Read is proud to claim a worldwide network of individuals who have committed their time and efforts to help us continue our work in education. They are officially named our Chapters, but we regularly call them our heroes, ambassadors and superstars.

December 5 is International Volunteer Day, as established by the United Nations in 1985, and though we appreciate our chapter volunteers every minute, we take this special opportunity to take our hats off and express our warm thanks for countless hours of work that have produced outstanding results in fundraising and awareness-raising for Room to Read.

Who are these individuals who willingly give up their evenings and weekends to coordinate and attend fundraising events and meetings, stuff envelopes, make phone calls and spread the word about the work we’re doing?  At our annual chapter leadership training, the hankies come out as we hear the moving stories of why each individual decided to commit their time and energy to Room to Read. For some, it’s having experienced economic challenges as a child, for others, it’s having traveled to areas where we work and wanting to make a difference.

Jennifer Mathy, the driving force behind the new chapter in Ridgefield, Connecticut (scheduled to officially launch in 2011), was drawn to Room to Read looking for a way to turn tragedy into world change. She recently returned to Connecticut after spending two years in Singapore with her family. While in Singapore, she got involved with a charity that builds schools in Cambodia and provides student scholarships in the Philippines.

She explains, “The first school I helped to rebuild had collapsed 11 years before, during the Khmer Rouge regime, a time when an entire generation of educated adults were massacred, leaving an entire generation of kids without access to an education. More than 1,000 children in the area had never been to school, had never learned to read or write, had never seen a book. Visiting that school, meeting those villagers, changed my life.”

This wasn’t the first event that had a profound effect on Jennifer’s life. On September 11, 2001, she was heading to work in Tower Two in New York. "I had just walked through the door to my office building when the first plane hit that morning," she recalls. "My experiences that day, the horrible things I witnessed and the amazing people I met, will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Last summer, Jennifer read about a local initiative to build a memorial to commemorate the victims of 9/11. “When I read the article about the Ridgefield memorial, I asked myself, ‘Why does a memorial have to be a physical structure?’ A memorial like that is important to a community, to remind us of the people we lost and of those who stepped up and said, ‘Yes, I’ll help another human being.’ But why can’t a memorial be a living, breathing thing? Why can’t I be a memorial to those 7,600 people? That’s when I contacted Room to Read.”

Room to Read’s goal is to help 10 million children by the year 2015. Jennifer has personally committed to helping 7,600 of those people, one for every person who lost their lives or their spouses or parents in the Twin Towers. She has already recruited 15 people to join the new chapter and she is planning to hold an informational meeting about Room to Read for the entire Ridgefield community, not only to recruit chapter members, but also to raise awareness of the organization.  She notes, “We have a lot of talent in Ridgefield, and I want to be sure we get the word out about the amazing work Room to Read is doing.”

There are more than 5,000 Room to Read volunteers around the world like Jennifer Mathy.  Almost from day one, Room to Read established a unique chapter model to utilize volunteers in major cities around the world and these volunteers make long-term commitments to help promote the organization within their own personal networks and communities. This year, our fundraising chapters in over 50 cities worldwide have raised more than US$10 million, which is one-third of our annual budget.

Room to Read’s continued success in fundraising translates directly into more books, more schools, better teaching and expanded access to quality education. We salute our family of volunteers around the globe who have helped us reach over five million children.

For more information about how to get involved with a chapter near you or for other volunteer opportunities, please visit our website.

 

Comments

[Helen-Thomas Donnelly]

I am a recently retired Middle School Social Studies teacher. While I am not flush with funds, I can volunteer my time to help out. I am accustomed to making school presentations so please let me know if I can help you.

Just saw John Wood on Charlie Rose and I was very touched by his message. What a great organization!

[sazzad iftekhar]

i am a student,studying at university of dhaka at undergraduate level.i m so keen to engage myself to this glorious program with my effort, labor, time and money as per as possible.i will be so pleased.

[Jane O'Maroro]

We are an NGO in Kenya, and along side our other programmes, we have a volunteer program that works very closely with international volunteers. We work with childrens homes and rural village schools are in dare need of books and teachers. Is is possible to establish a volunteer partnership programe?