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The Other America is still out there and needs our undivided attention

John Mennell — Sat, 09 May 2009 06:01:22 +0000

I am, for the first time in my life, in South Dakota, traveling by car from the East Coast to the West Coast. I borrowed a book on tape for the trip: “The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America.” I’ve just come through Indiana, where RFK entered, and [...]

Thank you for your passion to serve.

John Mennell — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:10:35 +0000

First, I can not thank our volunteers and donors enough for their interest and participation in supporting the mission and goals of MagazineLiteracy.org, the first and only global, magazine industry-wide literacy campaign for children and families. We have accomplished so much thanks to the commitment and self-initiative of hundreds of individuals. Still, we have so [...]

Getting back to reading basics to rebuild a prosperous society

John Mennell — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:13:50 +0000

We have all heard “give a person a fish and you feed them for a day… teach them to fish and you feed them for life.” I say, “first you need to feed a person, so they have the strength and the dignity to learn how to fish… next, you need to teach them [...]

Leveraging technology is game changing for magazine literacy

John Mennell — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:04:12 +0000

We are just getting started in Second Life and the learning curve is definitely a challenge. We factor that in to our exploration of new technologies, but we also look to engage volunteers who have particular interests and skills - to flatten the curve. Managing this brings its own challenges, but the benefits [...]

Tremendous forces rock our world of magazine literacy

John Mennell — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:36:39 +0000

It’s timely to reflect on the tremendous forces and upheavals in the economic, political, and community landscapes that are shaping the ecosystem for our magazine literacy mission. Financial markets are down - then up - then down again. Government, education, human, and community services face enormous funding gaps that demand doing more with [...]

A Second Life for MagazineLiteracy.org

John Mennell — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:33:43 +0000

We have embarked on a “moon shot” endeavor to create a portal into the new frontier of Second Life for MagazineLiteracy.org stakeholders by joining the Nonprofit Commons initiative. In World Contact - MagazineLiteracy Kidd Second Life is a vast virtual world where millions of residents interact and participate in a bustling economy. Contemplating Second Life, I’ve [...]

Changing the world… one Google click at a time!

John Mennell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:36:52 +0000

Thanks to advertising and sponsored web links donated by Google Adwords, we’ve noticed a significant increase in web traffic and contacts from people and business owners who want to support MagazineLiteracy.org programs. Our most important and mission critical task is reaching more people who want to help to find and support literacy needs in [...]

Webconference.com - a virtual coffee shop - takes our global grassroots collaboration to the next level

John Mennell — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:15:12 +0000

Today, Webconference.com has helped us to launch an online conference and collaboration tool that gets us to an entirely game-changing level of teamwork. Utilizing the webconference.com service, we can now connect the many volunteers and literacy agents that come together to collect and distribute magazines to new readers. These meetings can happen anywhere, [...]

Angel investors underwrite magazine literacy

John Mennell — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:48:03 +0000

MagazineLiteracy.org is an entreprenaural start-up, fueled by bold, passionate, driven volunteers. I often receive emails from the field that remind me of the line in “It’s a Wonderful Life” when Zuzu Bailey hears a bell ring and exclaims, “Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.” Each of [...]

Magazine Recycling Lessons Learned

John Mennell — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:28:54 +0000

From time to time, I like to share responses I’ve sent to questions in emails, so our stakeholders benefit from the lessons we learn everyday. Today I was asked, “Where did this program originate? Is it fairly new?” Well, to make a long story long… The idea for KinderHarvest, our magazine recycling program, originally came to me [...]