October 21, 2003
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Blazers team members, coaching staff, Blazers alumni and community members hosted the Read to Achieve event at the Rose Garden. 800 Portland Public School District third graders attend the event where they read with players.

The event gave students an exciting, entertaining game experience, while promoting an active life-long love of reading. Blazers players sat with students throughout the arena and the entire group read Shrews Can’t Hoop, by Ray Nelson Jr and Douglas Kelly.

In addition to the tip off event, the Blazers will give a book to every third grade student in the district - about 3,000 students. The Blazers ambassadors will also be visiting schools to inspire kids to read, and provide snacks during the Oregon Reading Benchmark Tests in March.

The week of October 20 is the national NBA Read To Achieve week. NBA teams all over the country are hosting reading events in their communities.

The Blazers are lending their support throughout this school year to help the Portland Public School district in their mission of “Raise the Bar, Eliminate the Gap.”

"This was a great event - I had fun with the kids. My classroom was the loudest for the cheer off!" exclaimed Rasheed Wallace.

To view additional photos from the 2003 Read to Achieve Click Here!