MagLiteracy

What started in a small garage has grown into a national movement to end illiteracy and poverty. The seed for MagLiteracy was planted in 1994 when founder John Mennell, while organizing community hunger relief efforts, realized that homes without food also lacked reading materials. Recognizing that two-thirds of U.S. children in poverty live in homes with zero books, he saw that magazines and comics were a special, untapped resource for literacy. In 2004, the Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project was officially launched to celebrate the United Nation's International Literacy Day.

Operating initially out of a garage and a P.O. box, MagLiteracy relied on a dedicated network of volunteers to coordinate shipments to food pantries, youth centers, and job training programs. Today, the organization has expanded dramatically, operating a massive literacy bank out of a 100,000-square-foot warehouse in Johnstown, Ohio. Like a food bank for reading, MagLiteracy collects gently used magazines from consumers, publishers, and retailers, then sorts and packages them for distribution.

With titles for every reading age, interest, and language, magazines serve as powerful, unintimidating tools to support literacy and inspire learning. By partnering with community organizations, shelters, and mentoring programs, MagLiteracy continues its mission to deliver the joy of reading to at-risk children and families, strengthening their literacy skills and self-esteem while fostering a lifelong reading habit. The organization's vision is to leverage the special power of magazines to increase literacy and improve the lives of children and families who have limited access to reading materials. Every single magazine and dollar raised brings them closer to their goal of changing lives for good.