Kids Read Now, a local non-profit organization dedicated to building literacy rates for young people across the country, announced it has moved to a new location in Troy, Ohio to accommodate its rapidly expanding summer book-reading operations.

On Dec. 15 Kids Read Now completed its move from a smaller shared space on the east side of Troy into a 16,000 square-foot property it will lease at 155 Marybill Drive. The larger facility will allow the organization to add up to 20 more employees, including four to six permanent employees over the next year, as well as 12 warehouse seasonal workers for the busier spring and summer months.

Currently among the top three literacy programs in the country, Kids Read Now expects to become the largest provider of summer reading materials for kids in kindergarten through third grade. The Kids Read Now business model is different than traditional summer reading programs that require kids to travel to libraries, camps or other community reading centers to access books. Instead, Kids Read Now sends books directly to students’ homes. After students finish reading one book, Kids Read Now sends out another one through the mail. And the best part — students get to keep all of the books they read during the summer for free.

Since its inception in 2010, the Kids Read Now summer reading program has helped tens of thousands of children. In 2017 alone, Kids Read Now distributed more than 80,000 books to more than 12,000 children in 34 school districts. Kids Read Now expects to increase that total to 50,000 children in 2018 and to 500,000 students in school districts across the country within three years.

“Moving into this larger space matches our business goals to expand our summer reading program significantly over the next few years,” said Leib Lurie, who founded the program along with Barbara Lurie. “We were fortunate enough to find a facility in Troy that meets our current needs yet offers flexibility for growth as we continue to attract more school districts into our summer reading program.”

Industrial Property Brokers represented both buyer and seller in completing the deal. Tim Echemann, a Broker for the company, said, “We are pleased to be able to help Kids Read Now relocate to a facility with the right space and amenities to suit their growing operation. The new location has the added benefit of a property owner who supports the Kids Read Now mission and vision.”

Industrial Property Brokers, located in Piqua, Ohio, is a premier full-service real estate company offering sales, leasing, investment analysis, tenant representation, and property management throughout Western Ohio and Eastern Indiana. For more information on this or other properties, visit www.IPBindustrial.com or call 937-492-4423.

For more information about Kids Read Now, visit kidsreadnow.org or call Mary Beth Reser at 937-681-2185.