April 12, 2004

adidas will launch its Portland Trail Blazers partnership with two community initiatives at the Blazers vs. Spurs game on April 12, 2004.

Three hundred students from the Portland Police Activities League (PAL) will watch the Blazers vs. Spurs game as part of a joint initiative by adidas and the Blazers.

The basketball night launches adidas’ and the Blazers’ new relationship with PAL to help its students improve their reading skills through participating in a summer reading program. adidas and Blazer employees will join Blazer players to donate more than 300 books to the program, and encourage kids to “Earn Their Stripes” by providing important reading motivators such as vouchers for free adidas gifts

Also at the Blazers vs Spurs game, adidas will honor Friends of the Children – Portland Chapter with a $2,500 donation in honor of the first graduating class of seniors to be with the program for 10 years.

Friends of the Children is a prevention/early intervention program whose mission is to help the community’s highest risk children develop the relationships, goals, and skills necessary to break the cycles of poverty, abuse and violence in order to become contributing members of society.

The program selects children who are most in danger of school failure, abuse, neglect, juvenile delinquency, gang and drug involvement, and teenage pregnancy, and gives them a ‘friend,’ or a consistent adult in their life.

This year marks the first class of graduating seniors who were in the first group selected by the program.

Members of the graduating class will be sitting in Theo Ratliff’s section during the game. During halftime, Theo Ratliff will present a check with adidas Director of Sports Marketing, Kevin Wulff, to the executive director of Friends of the Children, Virginia Silvey, and two members of the graduating class of seniors.