The Little Flame Inspires Peace Tree at Smith Junior High

by Denise Gary Photographs © Denise Gary What a BEAUTIFUL afternoon I spent with the Smith Junior High School “special class of awesome” on October 30th! I was so fortunate to be able to share the story of The Little Flame with the students of the Mesa, Arizona school, as well as provide them all […]

Mr. Gary Mlodzik Joins Kids Need to Read Board of Directors

Kids Need to Read is honored to announce the addition of community fundraiser Gary Mlodzik to the organization’s Board of Directors. Mlodzik has been volunteering regularly with Kids Need to Read since 2013. His support of the organization’s events and literacy programs for children, as well as his fundraising contributions, have been indispensable over the past […]

A New Home for Kids Need to Read

by Lori Cothrun, Operations Director Photographs © Lori Cothrun and Denise Gary Recently I hopped into my way back machine and was thinking about when I first met Denise Gary.  The previous year she had given me a Kids Need to Read (KNTR) business card and bookmark at Phoenix Comicon.  Though it took me some […]

Ryan Leasure Photography Surprises with Super-heroic Gift

by Denise Gary Photographs © Denise Gary The super-kind Ryan Leasure of Ryan Leasure Photography stopped by last week to deliver a spectacular surprise for the new Kids Need to Read office! The gift was a five-feet-long canvas-wrap fine art photograph depicting superheroes reading books in a beautiful library. The titles of the books correlate […]

Geeks, Superheroes, and the Mighty Phoenix Comicon Bring in $28,000 for KNTR

by Denise Gary Photographs © Bruce Matsunaga, Robert Gary, Eric Fiallos, Joe Abbruscato, Carly Woolley, and Denise Gary The year 2014 was the fifth year Kids Need to Read was honored as the sponsored charity of Phoenix Comicon and when the convention ended, the adjective that filled my head over and over was “beautiful.” This […]