June 29, 2004

In his first individual appearance as a Portland Trail Blazer, Sebastian Telfair attended a community reception at the Blazers Boys & Girls Club.

Boys & Girls Club youth leaders, representatives from the NE Portland Police Precinct, Police Activities League, Bridge Builders, Oregon State Senator Margaret Carter and other community leaders were in attendance as well to welcome Telfair to the community.

Following the reception Telfair took a youth led tour of the Blazers Club facility, where he met Club staff and kids. Telfair then spent time playing ping pong with the kids at the center as well as answering questions.

Telfair talked about growing up on Coney Island and the importance of having a place where kids can spend time and feel safe. Telfair also joined the kids in making the Read to Achieve pledge.

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Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland continues to be a major community partner of the Portland Trail Blazers. The team recently made their annual gift of $50,000 to the program and has donated over $1 million to the Clubs.

The Blazers Boys & Girls Club opened in the spring of 1996 and continues to be the only Club in the nation with naming rights sponsored by a professional sports team.


Read To Achieve
The NBA’s Read to Achieve program is a year-round campaign to help young people develop a life-long love for reading and encourage adults to read regularly to children. Reaching an estimated 50 million children a year, Read to Achieve is the most extensive educational outreach initiative in the history of professional sports.

In addition to being supported by all 29 NBA teams, 16 WNBA teams, the eight teams that make up the NBA's new minor league, the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), Read to Achieve is supported by the NBA's officials, parents and wives of players organizations, and the NBA Players Association and Retired Players Association.