The Matthew E. Russell Foundation

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The Matthew E. Russell Foundation

The mission of the Foundation is to provide an educationally enriched environment where children have access to advanced technology in order to facilitate.

The Matthew E. Russell Foundation was established to commemorate and transpire Matthew’s passion for reading to the children of economically-challenged communities. To understand why we do what we do you need to be aware of that the vast majority of schools in South Africa have no functional library system. In the Province of the Eastern Cape, for example, 93% of schools do not have a library on the school’s campus. Overall, 85% of the population of South Africa lives beyond the reach of a public library. To address this challenge, The Matthew E. Russell Foundation will make traditional books and e-books more accessible to students in schools in the rural area of the Eastern Cape. South Africa is just the start. Reading is the gateway to learning. There are rural communities all over the biosphere where children have never had the opportunity to experience the world thru reading. The ultimate developmental goal of the Foundation is to support the establishment of libraries in under-funded, urban townships and rural schools in order to increase student literacy levels, improve teaching methods, and build community support for education reform.

05/29/2026

POV: Going to our 13th library dedication. 💙

10/14/2024

Matthew E. Russell Foundation 2024. We are still changing children’s lives.

01/25/2023

Our new library trainer will support, the Eastern Cape province school libraries provided by MERF.
We welcome Ntombifuthi Gladness Phakathi known also as Futhie.
She is the full time librarian for Ithongasi FSS a school of excellence, in KwaZulu-Natal.
This was our first library dedicated in 2012 to our son Matthew.
Futhie will be a valuable asset for our libraries and their sustainability to inspire literacy and learning through reading, to elevate poverty in these rural villages.

We are excited about our future and MERF impact on education in rural regions of the world.

02/24/2021

As we are prepping for this years trip, we cant help but reflect on the impact that we have been able to have over the past 10 years. One of the amazing and impactful things that we have been able to do is provide cutting edge technology in the form of e-readers to thousands of students. This technology helps to allow children from rural areas in South Africa the opportunity to use and learn from up to date technology.

02/01/2021

Surprise! In honor of our 10 Year Anniversary we are offering some fun merch for you guys. Each item features a drawing of Nelson Mandela, an outline of Africa and the phrase "Readers Are Leaders". Celebrate 10 years of inspiring the next generation of leaders with us and order your 10 Year Anniversary Merch today from our storefront on https://www.storefrontier.com/merfoundation.

01/14/2021

Happy Thursday everybody! Who is excited about 10 years of work in the Eastern Cape?!? We are! We cant help but smile when we think about all of the awesome work that we have been able to accomplish in the past 10 years.

Here is a throwback to one of our library dedication ceremonies. 💕

12/29/2020

Who is excited about 2021? We are!
2020 has been a challenging yet rewarding year and we cant wait for what is to come for 2021. Spoiler Alert: In 2021 we turn 10 years old! Woot woot! We are so excited. Here is a sneak peak of some new stuff to celebrate our 10th birthday. Stay tuned!

12/07/2020

Today is the day that we remember the life and legacy of Matthew Russell. On this day 9 years ago, Matt unexpectedly passed but his family was able to take the inspiration of his life to provide hope to generations of students in South Africa.

Address

Woodstock, GA
30188

Telephone

+16782341798

Website

http://paypal.me/librarymrf/25

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