As we journey through 2025 with renewed energy and bigger goals:
- Let’s grow our volunteer family! Invite friends, family members, classmates, colleagues — even sports teams or scout groups — to join us at sorting events or delivery runs.
- Let’s expand our reach! With more volunteers comes the ability to serve more communities — ensuring no child or family goes without access to reading materials.
- Let’s continue making literacy a beacon of hope! Every magazine we rescue tells someone they matter — and that message can change lives forever.
Magazines have long been more than just a source of entertainment; they are powerful tools for education and inspiration. Through carefully curated content, magazines have the unique ability to introduce new ideas, spark dialogue and ignite a lifelong love of reading. Our journey has been a testament to these superpowers. We have learned that by leveraging the timeless appeal of print, we can make literacy more accessible and engaging for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Together, we’re breaking down barriers to reading one home at a time — and building brighter futures for all. But there are still so many communities waiting for their first magazines, so many children eager to discover the magic of reading, and so many adults seeking knowledge and inspiration.
Here are some of our plans for 2025.
Scaling Up Operations: Columbus and Madison
Our Magazine Literacy Bank centers in Columbus, Ohio, and Madison, Wisconsin, are the heart of our operations. Here, we are not only collecting and recycling high-quality magazines but also redistributing them to communities in need.
In today’s fast-changing media landscape, magazines continue to play a vital role in sparking curiosity, fostering literacy and bringing communities together. As we embark on the next chapter of our literacy journey, we are thrilled to announce our ambitious plans to expand operations at our Magazine Literacy Bank centers in Columbus and Madison to serve even more families and expand our impact across the region. This year marks a pivotal moment in our mission to create a literacy moonshot — an initiative that unites every stakeholder in the print magazine supply chain to empower readers and enrich lives.
We will continue to install large-scale literacy newsstands in supermarket-size food pantries. These newsstands are now reaching thousands of families each week, providing access to beloved magazine titles and educational content in places where they are needed most.
Transforming Warehouse Operations for Greater Impact
Our efforts extend behind the scenes, too. In Ohio, we continue to optimize our warehouse operations to dramatically increase the volume of boxes and pallets of magazines recycled back into our literacy mission. This reorganization has enabled us to handle significant shipments, including the recent arrival of over 100 pallets of Highlights for Children and 30 pallets of National Geographic. These deliveries are part of a broader effort, with regular pallet shipments arriving from industry partners such as Cricket Media, the National Wildlife Federation, Success, The Sun and many more.
Sustainability Meets Literacy: Our Recycling Initiative
In parallel with expanding our physical operations, we are proud to introduce a magazine and catalog recycling program that drives sustainability and creates additional revenue streams. This initiative has already kept 20 tons of paper out of landfills, repurposing valuable materials back to paper mills and reducing our environmental footprint. By aligning our literacy mission with sustainability goals, we demonstrate that responsible practices and community impact can go hand in hand.
A Call to Action: Unite the Entire Supply Chain
Our vision for a literacy moonshot is bold, and achieving it requires a collaborative effort from every corner of the print magazine supply chain. We invite paper suppliers, printers, publishers, distributors, retailers and passionate consumers to join us on this journey. Every stakeholder’s contribution is crucial — from financial investments to innovative ideas that can drive our mission forward.
By coming together, we can transform the landscape of literacy and create a more informed, inspired, and sustainable future for all. We challenge our industry partners and supporters to iMAGine all that’s possible and to invest in a shared vision where literacy, sustainability and community empowerment are at the forefront.
Let’s Make It Happen — Together
The expansion of our Magazine Literacy Bank and Literacy Newsstand operations in Ohio and Wisconsin is not just a growth initiative — it’s a commitment to making a lasting impact on literacy and sustainability in our communities. As we scale up our operations, we remain dedicated to fostering a culture of reading and learning, ensuring that quality magazine content continues to reach every corner of society.
Join us as we set the stage for a transformative year. Together, we can create a future where the power of the printed word elevates communities, sparks change and builds a more literate world.