As people who love to read more than pretty much anything, we think Room to Read, a charity founded by ex-Microsoft marketing director John Wood that builds libraries and donates books to children all over the world, is pretty much the best idea we’ve ever heard of. As the New York Times points out, legendary philanthropist Andrew Carnegie has been much celebrated for his construction of over 2,500 libraries worldwide, but Room to Read has opened more than five times that number, though many of them are simple rooms with one distinguishing factor: books where there were none before. Not only that, but Room to Read is opening new branches at the insane speed of six a day, which we admit we can’t quite fathom.
Not only is Room to Read creating libraries for children who otherwise would have no way to get their hands on books, they’ve also become publishers, creating books specifically for children in countries where the children’s book industry doesn’t exist. So far, the charity has published 591 titles in many languages including Khmer, Nepalese, Zulu, Lao, Xhosa, Chhattisgarhi, Tharu, Tsonga, Garhwali and Bundeli. “In 20 years,” Wood told the Times, “I’d like to have 100,000 libraries, reaching 50 million kids. Our 50-year goal is to reverse the notion that any child can be told ‘you were born in the wrong place at the wrong time and so you will not get educated.’ That idea belongs on the scrapheap of human history.” Bravo.
[via The New York Times]
It seems like they’re giving out awards for just about anything these days. But the nominees for the ‘Classy,’ the largest philanthropic award in the country, are definitely worth celebrating. The award recognizes “the most outstanding philanthropic achievements by charities, businesses and individuals nationwide,” with 12 categories ranging from “Charity of the Year” to “Young Nonprofit Leader of the Year” to “Most Innovative Use of Social Media by a Charity.” Nominees we particularly like (and there are many) include Karma Builders, a program that hires and trains people newly out of prison to work for local sustainable companies, cultivating a positive mind-set and real world skills to break the “vicious cycle of unemployment and re-incarceration,” and Bike & Build, a program that organizes cross-country bike trips, stopping to exchange their bikes for hammers and build houses along the way. This past week, public voting opened on the Classy website, so you can check out the nominees and vote for one in each category yourself. And if nothing else, you’ll at least feel a little better knowing that some good is being done in the world.
“Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed.” — President Rene Preval of Haiti
As Preval noted, Haiti’s rebuilding efforts in the wake of January’s 7.0 earthquake won’t be complete without a manifold approach, as the entire infrastructure of the nation and its capital, Port-au-Prince, has crumbled under thousands of tons of rubble. The shelter issue is pressing, however: 3,000 people sleeping on a school soccer field, machete fights over tents, an estimated 1 million people displaced. So how are architects responding to an immediate humanitarian crisis? They are problem solvers, after all.
Read More »
