Guest Article: Introducing Gone Reading!

Today, I am excited to introduce Brad Wirz, found of GoneReading! He is here to chat with us about the history and purpose behind his non-profit organization and has shared some amazing photos to document his journey to get where he is today.  Please give him a warm welcome!

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Hello, my name is Brad Wirz and I’m the founder of a philanthropic organization called GoneReading. We market a line of gifts for readers and on our website (www.GoneReading.com) and donate 100% of our company’s profits to fund new library construction in the developing world.

How did GoneReading come to be? Allow me to explain…

I’m a guy who really loves to read. Books have always played a central role in my life, so much so that I simply cannot imagine a world without them. My latest book is practically always within arm’s reach.

In the spring of 2010, however, I learned just how lucky I’ve been to have books in my life. After arriving in rural Honduras for a week-long volunteer trip, I learned we would spend much of the time helping to build a library. The experience forever changed my life.

A few days of hard labor in the developing world can really get you thinking. We learned that the new library on which we worked would be the first of its kind for more than a hundred miles in any direction. Hundreds of villages, thousands of people in the area had no access to books at all up to that point. That simply blew my mind.

I later learned that close to one billion people live in the world today without books. Even if they learn to read as children, the skill is lost over time due to the lack of reading materials. As you can imagine, these are the poorest regions of the world.

Fortunately, when rural libraries are built in or near these villages, life changes for the better. I’ve seen it with my own eyes while traveling through India and Nepal earlier this year. People of all ages develop skills; they become confident and learn how to improve their own lives. They start saving-cooperatives and tiny businesses that thrive. Most important, they start to gain control over their lives and that of their children.

Following my trip to Honduras I quit my job, ending my 20-year, better-than-I-deserved career in corporate marketing. The result is GoneReading and our effort to use the power of commerce to fund radical change through the magic of reading.

As a book lover yourself, you can play a dramatic role by helping to create such libraries, and in turn creating cycles of prosperity in the poorest parts of the world. Check out our gifts for readers at www.GoneReading.com and treat your friends and family to a bookish gift that they’ll cherish forever.

Thanks for your time, and thanks to Tif Talks Books for helping us spread the word!

Bradley S. Wirz

Founder & CEO
Gone Reading International, LLC
brad.wirz@gonereading.com

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Don't forget to take a gander over at GoneReading.  You may just find the perfect gift for the readers in your life!  For example, I leave you with a design for a bag that I am adding to my Christmas wish list right now!