John Wood, founder of the non-profit organization Room to Read, spoke Monday, Sept. 9 on his book, “Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy,” in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center. “Every kid should win the lottery of life,” he said during his speech, introducing the central theme of the organization. “We are too poor to afford education, but until we are educated, we will always be poor,” he continued. This is the vicious cycle that Room to Read is trying to subvert.The College chose Wood’s book as the 2013 Open Book, required reading for first-year students.
Wood’s book is a compilation of material on the creation of Room to Read and how it has aided in promoting literacy, gender equality and education all over the world. Inspired by his written words, first-year Samantha Eisdorfer became involved in Room to Read’s mission.
Eisdorfer decided to get in contact with several faculty and staff members, including Beth Young, Reka Berenyi and Dr. Brian Newsome, to plan a first-year project — a book drive. The planning process began about two weeks before the start of the fall 2013 semester. Eisdorfer has titled her project Room to React, and said that it is “about taking action for something that’s important.”
Her hope was to have her classmates bring one book each along with them to donate on their move-in day. However, processing that a week before moving in would have been extremely difficult. “So, I decided to just take the scope out and make it bigger and more long-term.” Eisdorfer said. Young worked with the High Library to get in contact with the organization, while Newsome focused on marketing Eisdorfer’s project.
The books collected by students will be donated to Better World Books, Room to Read’s sister company. They will in turn donate the money they make from selling and recycling the books to Room to Read. Students will be asked to bring books back to campus with them after fall break. Boxes for donation drop-offs will be located in the BSC from Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 5 p.m. until Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 11 p.m. On the morning of Oct. 10, Eisdorfer will send the books to Better World Books.
Eisdorfer’s hope is to meet a quota of 1,000 books, or two books from each member of the first-year class. “One of the biggest themes in the book is ‘go big or go home,’ so I thought that one book is not enough and we could totally do better than that,” she said. She has faith that the book drive will bring in even more than that. The focus of the project is on the class of 2017, but upperclassmen are more than welcome to donate as well.
“This book is really one that you can’t read without feeling like you want to help out and do something about what you’re reading about,” Eisdorfer said. She felt that this book drive was a way to bring the class of 2017 together and to make it known to the community that they take the College’s motto, “Educate for Service,” very seriously. “The message is good,” said Eisdorfer. “It makes you realize how fortunate we are that we can come to Elizabethtown. All the stories in it are so inspirational that you can’t help but want to do something.” Her main goal is to aid Room to Read by getting books and education to kids around the world. “Everything that this organization is about, that’s what this project is about,” she said.
