Maria Keller (born May 2000) is an American woman who is the founder and executive director of Read Indeed, a nonprofit literacy organization that donates books to children who lack access to reading materials. Keller founded the charitable organization in 2009 to donate one million books to in-need children by the time she turned eighteen, a task she accomplished at age thirteen. By 2024, Read Indeed has donated nearly four million books to underprivileged youth in each U.S. State and seventeen countries. For her work with Read Indeed, Keller received the

Jefferson Award for Public Service The Jefferson Awards Foundation was created in 1972 by the American Institute for Public Service. The Jefferson Awards are given at both national and local levels. Local winners are ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation ...

and the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, as well as recognition from

CNN Heroes ''CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute'' is a television special created by CNN to honor individuals who make extraordinary contributions to humanitarian aid and make a difference in their communities. The program was started in 2007. Since 2016, the ...

. Keller is from

Plymouth, Minnesota Plymouth is a city in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. A suburb in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the city is about west of downtown Minneapolis.The population was 81,026 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota' ...

and attends a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parish in

Hamel, Minnesota Hamel is an unincorporated community in Medina, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. Hamel has its owfire station and post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting lett ...

. Keller attended the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

, where she is pursued an undergraduate degree in Medieval Studies and the Program of Liberal Studies. She attended

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

throughout her childhood and is a graduate of Orono High School.

Early life and education

Keller was raised in

and attended public schools in the Orono School District. She attended Orono High School, where she played

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

. She was named an

AP Scholar The College Board offers several awards to selected students who take Advanced Placement (AP) exams. AP scholar designations Each year, the AP program recognizes students who have performed exceptionally well on AP examinations. Exams are taken ...

in 2016.

College years

Keller enrolled at the

in the summer of 2018. She is a major in the Program of Liberal Studies—a great books program—as well as Medieval Studies. In the summer of 2021, Keller traveled to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in order to conduct research on the relationship between themes present in

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

and the aesthetics of English Catholicism during the 1800s. The research forms the basis of her

senior thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

Philanthropy

Read Indeed

In 2009, when Keller was eight years old, she started to collect and distribute books to low-income children. She was inspired to do so after becoming deeply upset when told by her mother that not every child in the world had access to books. She first organized a single book drive which collected thousands of books for a Minneapolis children's shelter. After the book drive, the nine year-old Keller told her parents that she would collect and distribute one million books by the time she turned eighteen. Shortly thereafter, Keller founded Read Indeed with the goal of collecting and distributing one million books to those in need by the time she became an adult. In the first year her organization, which was based in her family's garage, collected and donated 70,000 books to low-income children. The organization expanded with volunteers and a warehouse. By the time Keller was eleven, Read Indeed had collected 500,000 books. The nonprofit donated its millionth book in October 2013, when Keller was thirteen. The 250 volunteer-strong nonprofit's reach has been international in scope, though 80% of books distributed by the nonprofit have been given to children in Minnesota. By 2014, the organization had distributed books to children in thirty U.S. states and thirteen countries. This reach of the charity's work expanded to 48 states by March 2016 and all fifty U.S. states and seventeen countries by 2019. , Read Indeed had collected and distributed more than three million books to underprivileged youth. Following her matriculation to the University of Notre Dame, Keller resigned as CEO of Read Indeed in order to allow her younger brother, Ryan, to serve in that role. As of 2024, Keller is now the executive director of Read Indeed.

Awards and honors

In 2012, Keller won a 2012 Eleven Who Care award, a volunteer recognition award given to Minnesotans by

KARE-TV KARE (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area as an NBC affiliate. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Olson Memorial Highway ( MN 55) in Golden V ...

. In 2014, Keller was one of two students to receive a Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2014 in the category of Outstanding National or Global Service by a Young American 25 Years or Under. That same year, Keller was one of three children recognized as a CNN Heroes Young Wonder for her work; 2014 also saw Keller become the inaugural winner of the

Brielle, New Jersey Brielle is a borough located in southern Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, along the Manasquan River. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 4,774, In September 2015, Keller was selected as an honoree for the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. In 2016, Keller was recognized as a recipient of the Prudential Spirit of Community Award.

Personal life

Keller is a Roman Catholic. She has an affinity for Memento Mori, describing it as a key part of her spiritual life. She is a member of Saint Anne's Parish in Hamel, Minnesota. Keller's mother, Maura, is an editor and

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

. According to the '' Star Tribune'', Keller's father works in the field of design.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Maria 2000 births American women philanthropists Living people People from Orono, Minnesota Philanthropists from Minnesota University of Notre Dame alumni Catholics from Minnesota