Impact: Two new libraries will be built in India and Laos, impacting an estimated 500 students and 15 teachers for three years!

Room to Read's Reading Room program establishes bilingual libraries filled with local language and English children's books, posters, maps, and games that engage children in reading. They work in 9 countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Zambia) and have established 11,246 libraries since their inception in 2000, impacting the lives of over 4 million children.

This grant will allow two libraries to be built, one in India and one in Laos. Room to Read will determine the specific communities for these libraries soon. Each one will be built in an existing school that averages 250 children and has between 3 - 10 teachers each year. Both of these libraries will be completed by the end of 2011, and one thing we love about this project is that these libraries get support for a full 3 years including training, additional books, and ongoing maintenance.