By Nicole Leavitt<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jan. 12, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Published by Ohio State Univeristy Department of English<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sravya Patibandla knew\u202fautumn 2020,\u202fher\u202ffinal semester at The Ohio State University,\u202fwould\u202fbe nothing like\u202fwhat\u202fshe\u2019d\u202fspent the past three years\u202flooking\u202fforward to.\u202fMasks, daily temperature checks, virtual classes\u2014like most\u202fstudents\u202fwho graduated in 2020,\u202fthe\u202fHuman Development and Family Sciences major\u202fwas disappointed\u202fthat\u202fCOVID-19\u202fupended her senior experience.\u202fAs much as the pandemic affected her academics, it took an even harder toll on\u202fthe\u202fextracurriculars\u202fshe had been heavily involved\u202fin\u202fthroughout her undergraduate career.\u202f\u201cAll my other volunteering opportunities [had] been canceled,\u201d she recounts.\u202fDespite the\u202fpandemic-scale obstacle,\u202fPatibandla was unwilling to abandon the work to which she had dedicated so\u202fmuch time and heart.\u202fAnd so, with only one semester between her and graduation,\u202fshe\u202fset out in search of new ways to\u202fmake a difference in\u202fthe Ohio State and Columbus communities.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patibandla\u202ffound\u202fwhat she was looking for\u202fat\u202fMagLiteracy<\/a>, a local nonprofit\u202fdedicated to combatting poverty with an unconventional weapon: magazines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n MagLiteracy\u202fconsiders itself a foodbank of sorts, one for \u201cchildren and families hungry to read.\u201d\u202fAccording to the nonprofit\u2019s website,\u202fa\u202flack of\u202faccessible\u202freading materials is \u201ca major factor\u202fcontributing to a cycle of illiteracy and poverty for children and families…\u202fIn fact, two-thirds of U.S. children in poverty live in homes with zero books.\u201d\u202fPatibandla, who is passionate about equitable education,\u202fdecided to\u202fjoin\u202fMagLiteracy\u202fas a volunteer, preparing magazine donations to be distributed\u202fto\u202fat-risk readers\u202fin central Ohio.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike some outreach\u202forganizations,\u202fMagLiteracy\u202fis uniquely positioned to continue operations safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u202f\u201cThey get a ton of magazines donated to them from National Geographic, Barnes and Noble, big companies like that,\u201d Patibandla says;\u202f\u201cthen they send\u202fthem to different organizations, like literacy programs, or homeless shelters, or food banks or schools.\u201d\u202fVolunteers like Patibandla\u202fhave two primary responsibilities: sorting and bundling, both of which can be done\u202fwhile safely social distancing.\u202fFirst, volunteers sort out any unusable donations. \u201cA lot of times, donor magazines might have\u202ftorn pages, or they might have water damage,\u201d Patibandla explains. Next, the usable magazines are bundled for distribution. \u201cWhen [volunteers] are bundling them, they\u2019ll get four different types of magazines, and they usually do different topics for each,\u201d Patibandla says,\u202fnoting, \u201cOne of them is usually a kid\u2019s magazine.\u201d\u202fThe magazine bundles are then delivered to\u202fthe\u202faforementioned partnering\u202finstitutions, where\u202fthose in need can pick them up at no cost and take them home.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[MagLiteracy\u202ftries]\u202fto ship them to organizations that are helping people who are historically underserved when it comes to literacy,\u201d Patibandla says.\u202f\u201cRight now, one of the places they\u2019re distributing at is the Mid-Ohio Foodbank<\/a> that gets… 3,000 people a week who get food from there.\u201d\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patibandla is not the first Ohio State student to volunteer with\u202fMagLiteracy; many have come before her.\u202fHowever, while there is no shortage of college students willing to\u202fdedicate time to the\u202fcause,\u202ftheir service is, by nature, temporary.\u202f\u201cI was talking to the volunteer coordinator, and we were talking about how they needed some type of continuous program with volunteers from Ohio State because Ohio State students, often,\u202fthey\u2019re not here for a long time.\u202fSo\u202fthen they don\u2019t have people to fill their positions after,\u201d Patibandla recounts. \u201cSo\u202fI was like, \u2018You know, you guys should think about creating an Ohio State student org.\u2019 And then I was like, \u2018Okay, why don\u2019t I do it?\u2019\u201d\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n And so,\u202fPatibandla\u202ffounded Magazines for Literacy, a student organization\u202fintended to supply the nonprofit with a\u202fconsistent\u202freserve\u202fof student\u202fvolunteers. The\u202fvolunteers will\u202fparticipate in\u202fthe\u202fsorting and bundling\u202fprocess, allowing magazines to be distributed\u202ffaster and in greater number.\u202fDepending on availability and mobility, volunteers can participate in one of two ways. The first and more frequent option is drop-off sorting:\u202fon a biweekly basis,\u202fMagazines for Literacy executive members will drop off magazines\u202fto be sorted and bundled\u202fat volunteers\u2019\u202fcentral Ohio residences, whether they\u202fbe on or off campus.\u202fThe second option is what Patibandla calls \u201cdrive-thru sorting\u201d: \u201cOnce a month, we\u2019re going\u202fto have people drive up [to the\u202fMagLiteracy\u202fwarehouse in\u202fJohnstown] and then we put magazines into their car. Then they sort them or bundle them at home.\u201d Regardless of which option a volunteer chooses, they are free to return their sorted and bundled magazines at their convenience: \u201cThere\u2019s\u202fno set time really, it\u2019s just whenever they\u2019re available!\u201d Patibandla says. From that point, she adds,\u202fthe magazines are \u201cdistributed to the community at\u202fMid-Ohio\u202fFoodbank or other partners.\u201d\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n Magazines for Literacy\u202falso offers\u202fits members a\u202funique\u202fopportunity, one that might be of particular interest to English majors: grant writing.\u202f\u201cMagLiteracy\u202fneeds grants\u2014they\u202fhave other locations throughout the country that are trying to do the same thing\u202fthat they do. They have a ton of magazines, but they need funding to send the magazines to these different places.\u202fAnd also, it\u2019s completely volunteer-run,\u201d Patibandla says.\u202f\u201cSo\u202fthey need funds\u202f[for]\u202foperating costs.\u201d\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n As of February 1, Magazines for Literacy\u2019s\u202fstatus as a student organization will be official (Professor Kay\u202fHalasek<\/strong><\/a>\u202fwill serve as the faculty advisor). The first\u202fround of magazine drop-offs is slated for the last week in January,\u202fwhile the first\u202f\u201cdrive-thru sorting\u201d\u202fis scheduled from 11:00am to 1:30pm\u202fthis coming Saturday, January 16.\u202fThe first grant writing workshop\u202fwill be held\u202fthe first week of February.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to volunteers, Magazines for Literacy is also seeking students with a passion for literacy to fill leadership roles within the organization. Anyone interested in learning more or joining the student organization is encouraged to contact magliteracyosu@gmail.com<\/a>\u202for complete an\u202finterest form<\/a>.\u202fA recording of a past informational session<\/a> is also available.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to corporate bulk donations, MagLiteracy accepts individual donations; if you are looking to get rid of any old magazines, consider donating to the nonprofit! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Source:<\/strong> https:\/\/english.osu.edu\/news\/ending-poverty-through-literacy-new-student-organization-and-related-not-profit-seek<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comment:<\/strong> This article is especially interesting because it is about a current local intervention and how an Ohio State student has partnered with them just a couple weeks ago. MagLiteracy is unique in that it has the goal to bring magazines, rather than books, to people as a way for increased literacy. I think one effective thing that MagLiteracy does is to partner with food banks. That way low income homes could get magazines with the food that they come there for. A lot of these non-profits are thinking about once they have the donated resources, what are frequent places people go so that we can get these resources to the people that need them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Nicole Leavitt Jan. 12, 2021 Published by Ohio State Univeristy Department of English Sravya Patibandla knew\u202fautumn 2020,\u202fher\u202ffinal semester at The Ohio State University,\u202fwould\u202fbe nothing like\u202fwhat\u202fshe\u2019d\u202fspent the past three years\u202flooking\u202fforward to.\u202fMasks, daily temperature checks, virtual classes\u2014like most\u202fstudents\u202fwho graduated in 2020,\u202fthe\u202fHuman Development and Family Sciences major\u202fwas disappointed\u202fthat\u202fCOVID-19\u202fupended her senior experience.\u202fAs much as the pandemic affected her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":7018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-focus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7019,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7017\/revisions\/7019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A food-for-thought bank\u202f <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Tapping Buckeye potential\u202f <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Get involved\u202f <\/h3>\n\n\n\n