Awards & Recognition
August 2025: Al Magid is "Daily Points of Light" Honoree
RIF founder Al Magid was recognized as a#DailyPointofLight Award honoree. He was given the award in August 2025. The Daily Point of Light Award honors individuals creating meaningful change through volunteering and civic engagement all over the USA. Al was selected for his outstanding contributions to Schenectady’s young readers by creating RIF, and thus reflecting our shared commitment to making a difference. To read Al’s story (Honoree #8,135), go to: https://www.pointsoflight.org/awards/helping-schenectadys-children-reach-their-potential. Points of Light is 35 years old and was founded by President George H.W. Bush. Bush said,“The solution to each problem that confronts us begins with a inindividual who steps forward and who says,‘I can help.’
May 2025: Capital Region Gives Community Service Award
In May 2025, The Reading Is Fun Program was selected as an honoree for the 2025 Capital Region Gives Community Service Award. This award recognizes RIF’s volunteers for their dedication to community service. It also helps to tell RIF’s story, aiming to inspire others to action.
The Capital Region Gives Community Service Awards are sponsored by the Times Union and St. Peter’s Health Partners. They “recognize volunteers who have contributed significantly to New York's Capital Region. Aiming to spotlight those whose dedication and generosity have fostered community growth and enhanced lives, these awards recognize individual and group volunteers making a difference in our region”, according to Molly Renaud, Director of Community Engagement for The Times-Union.
2025 Friends of Education Award
On March 20, 2025, Reading Is Fun’s Mary Batzinger was selected for the 2025 Friends of Education Award, awarded by Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA). In a ceremony on May 1st, 2025, Mary will be among the honored at the CASDA Annual Awards and Friends of Education Celebration. She has been a Reading Partner since 2017, impacting 110 students. She is also Library Coordinator, managing a beautiful space where Reading Partners come to get books and other supplies for their work with students. In 2023, she formed the Reading Skills Advisory Committee. In 2024 alone, Mary devoted over 800 volunteer hours to RIF.
May 2018:
Schenectady County Human Rights Commission, at its 35th Annual Awards Breakfast on May 17, 2018 presented the Reading Is Fun Program with the 2018 Group Achievement Award for outstanding leadership and contributions that improve the Human and Civil Rights of Schenectady County Residents.
January 2017:
The Reading Is Fun Program received the Schenectady City School District Education Foundation's 2017 Dr. Ray and June Benenson Community Service Award for its outstanding help to the Schenectady City School District and its classroom teachers and young students.
May 2017:
Al Magid was one of the two winners of the annual Schenectady County Senior Citizen Award, for his work with the Reading is Fun Program. Al was also selected as one of the three awardees statewide, who received The Governor’s Recognition for their "exemplary service" as senior-citizen volunteers. The designations were made by the governor and the chairs of the NY State Senate and Assembly Committees on Aging.
2016:
Al Magid received the Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA) Friend of Education Award, recognizing service to the Schenectady City School District through the Reading Is Fun Program.