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Dear Friend of Reader To Reader,
I hope you enjoy this newsletter about the Reader To Reader Book Project. Our success is very much due to your donations of books, financial donations, and most of all your generous spirit. Please forward this newsletter and help us spread the word.
Every month we receive donations from hundreds of donors all across the country. They come from grandmothers, school children, teachers, and anyone and everyone who loves books and wants to spread the joy of reading. This month I would like to devote the newsletter to the memory of a very special donor, Casey Carriker. Casey's generous donations of books to Reader To Reader meant so much to us as they came directly out of his lifelong love of books. Casey learned to read at an early age and books were always his sanctuary. A voracious reader, he always had a book under one arm. His inquisitive nature was evident to his parents from the start. Casey "was a very bright and unusual kid," noted his father, Terry. "He would correct you on what things were called." By the time he reached high school, Casey was reading Nietzsche and immersing himself in philosophy and history. His father explained that, "Casey felt that a book provided an understanding from one generation to the next. The written word of the previous generation was their legacy." He also loved historical fiction, devouring Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe novels by the handful. It wasn't just his own love of reading that made Casey special. He loved to buy books and give them out to others. "I remember during one visit he went to Barnes and Noble, bought a thousand dollars worth of books and gave them out to all his friends," his father added. "He also mailed numerous books to family members all across the country with notes encouraging them to read them." After high school, Casey joined the army as a means to pay for college. His goal was to study social work and philosophy at Grays Harbor College. Even his preparation for the army involved books, as he ran every day with a backpack loaded with books in order to get in shape for basic training. Casey was based in Hawaii before being sent to Iraq last August where he served in the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. Tragically, generous spirit, book lover and creative mind, Pfc. Casey Carriker, 20, of Hoquiam, Washington, died Wednesday, June 13, in Kirkuk, Iraq. The cause of his death has not yet been released and is currently listed as "Died from injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident." Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Carriker family at this time of loss. In lieu of flowers his family has asked that donations be made to Reader To Reader. The mailing address for donations is:
Reader To Reader
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