John Eldred’s career is an incredible success story. Born in Galion, Ohio, he moved as a kid to Toledo. In the 1960s Eldred lived in Southern California where he met his wife, Joyce Micochero. Together, they moved back to Ohio in 1968. Eldred dreamt of owning his own business and he took the leap and opened his own video store in the early 1980s, just when home video was becoming available for the average American household. His courage, his anticipation of the next big thing and his love of movies paid off. The store, Sights and Sounds Video, was very successful. By the end of the 1980’s, Eldred saw room for expansion. When a friend suggested he sell the video rental store’s used tapes to libraries, his next business venture, Midwest Tape, was born.
Framed as an entrepreneur
Over the next 30 years Eldred and his business partner, Jeff Jankowski, built an international business serving more than 8,000 libraries. They went on to create Dreamscape Media, an award-winning publishing and media distribution company for audiobooks, eBooks and other digital products in an all-in-one online platform for libraries containing everything from online movies and comic books to music and television for library patrons.
On the heels of that successful business, Eldred founded the Dorothy Louise Kyler Foundation, named after his mother who shared her love of reading with her son. Executive director Mike Deetsch spoke about the Foundation and its changes after Eldred passed away four years ago. “He wasn’t giving for the sake of credit; he was giving because it was important to him to give back to the community.”
The main purpose of the Foundation is to support children’s collections in small rural libraries. “Rural” libraries are defined as being in areas with less than 25,000 people, a minimum of 10 miles from an urban cluster, with 15-20% of its population at poverty level. Deetsch says the Foundation finds those areas through research and invites each library to apply for up to $5,000 in free rentals. These are crucial programs because, as people who love to read know, exposure and access to books makes a huge difference in shaping life-long reading.
Expanding Giving
Since 2012 the Foundation has helped build children’s collections in over 20 states.
After Eldred’s passing in 2021, the effort was renamed the John Henry Eldred Jr Foundation with expanded areas of giving to focus on food insecurity, housing instability and youth education in Northwest Ohio. Supporting libraries, food security, housing and education in Northwest Ohio.
Deetsch explains that these areas were selected because of Eldred’s
background — who he was as a person — and his life-long interests. The reshaped Foundation, in its current iteration for approximately two years, invites non-profits across the area who do work that falls into these areas to apply for grants of $25,000, to fund anything from a program or project-based request to capital improvements or general operating support. “There are fairly open guidelines, as long as it fits within the criteria under those umbrellas. In 2023 over $500,000 was awarded
locally by the Foundation.
Deetsch continues, “In the spring of 2024, we awarded $1.3 million locally to non-profits that went toward food, housing and youth education. It’s a tremendous opportunity for us to engage with these amazing partners and organizations that are doing important work. They include Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity, Cherry Street Mission, The Islamic Food Bank and Partners in Education, an in-school literacy tutoring program. These are the people on the ground doing the work to improve lives. We are inviting people to the table who can give us a real sense of what’s happening in the community. We listen to what their needs are to find out how we can best support them.”
Leaving a legacy
The Foundation and it’s good wor emanates from one man, who began over forty years ago, with a dream to open his own business and a love of movies and books. John Henry Eldred Jr. has left a legacy that lives on in the books, food and educational programs available to those in need through Northwest Ohio non-profits. Deetsch relates, “The opportunity for us is as great as the organizations within our community can dream.”
