Providing Food for the Soul

Ashley Peterson, 16, is the founder of ReRead, a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes more than 2,500 current magazines, books and other reading materials each month to more than 300 agencies that serve the homeless, the abused and others. MAURA E. MONTELLANO spoke with her.

Our high school--Harvard-Westlake--is very involved with community service; it’s an essential part of our curriculum. I started working with the homeless at a food bank, a weekly commitment to help feed the homeless and talk to them. While I was there, I noticed that there were magazines like Time, Sports Illustrated and Newsweek available to read but that all the magazines were three or four months old. The homeless really took an interest in reading and wanting to know what is going on.

I decided to start a service where I would provide current magazines of all types to the shelters. Reading about current events is a way for the homeless to reconnect with their community. The service ReRead provides is especially important to children because it establishes an educational foundation for many of the children at these shelters. You learn to read at an early age and if you are growing up in a shelter, you don’t have many resources.

I started collecting magazines from people in the community and friends of mine. I sorted, packed and sent them to different shelters. I would send a letter to the shelters letting them know they were receiving donated periodicals and tell them about the organization and how we want to help them. They would return a questionnaire, letting me know what kinds of periodicals they would like and how many.

I wasn’t sure if this was a really necessary service but once I started hearing back from these places, I was assured that it was.

This kind of donation is not like giving them clothes. This is a different way of helping. This teaches them, gives them a connection to society. The homeless are not illiterate bums. They are victims of unfavorable circumstances that could happen to anyone. They want to read and they do understand what they are reading and what is going on in their world.

I have a drop-off location in West Los Angeles near my home. Right now I am in the process of developing a collection point to make it accessible to others. Ideally I would like to establish drop-offs at all supermarkets. I want it to be convenient for people who want to donate. We will have confidentiality labels that will go across the mailing address so they don’t worry about anyone knowing their address.

I have received donations from private donors and have used these donations to pay the postage costs. My hope is to receive donations from corporations, endowments and private contributors. These magazines are food for the soul.

We all have magazines, books, children’s books that we don’t want to throw away. You used them, why can’t someone else?

ReRead can be reached at: rereadusa@aol.com.