Founded in Tampa Bay
"He said he wished he had an outlet like reading while he was deployed."
A YOUNG SOLDIER. A WHEELCHAIR. A THANK YOU.
"He wasn't living on base. He lived in a tent on the outskirts of Kabul."
In May 2011, our founder Patricia Murphy was delivering magazines to the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa when a young man in a wheelchair rolled up and took her hand. He couldn't have been more than 20 years old, and he had lost his leg in the war.
He thanked her. He said the magazines helped him get through the hard days — helped keep his mind off everything. And then he said something that stayed with her: he wished he had that outlet while he was still deployed.
When the elevator doors closed, Patricia burst into tears. When she got home, she got to work. Books for Troops was incorporated in 2012 and we have been shipping books to active military personnel ever since.
That young veteran's words are still the reason we do this. Every book we ship is for him — and for every service member still out there, wishing they had something to read.
Request Books