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Read On

by Josephine Cusumano

When 12-year-old Charlotte Olson of West Berlin had a dream about donating books to children, she awoke with determination. “[I said] want to do that in real life,” she explains. Soon enough, Olson and her family made a call to Reach Out and Read, a nonprofit dedicated to incorporating books to improve pediatric care, to learn the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper—Outpatient Office in Voorhees, a participant in the program since 1998, was in most need of books.

Once the Olsons put a call out on social media, they began accepting book donations from friends, family and local establishments. “It took us about [six-to-eight] weeks,” Olson explains, who is a National American Miss Pre-Teen State Finalist for N.J. "Books were coming in all the time."

To learn how you can help, visit ReachOutAndRead.org.