October 21-25 was the NBA's Read to Achieve Week where each team was challenged to visit kids in their community and provide insight into the importance of reading.
The Blazers team and coaching staff hosted the entire third grade from Greenway Elementary School at the Blazers practice facility to wrap up the team's four-day celebration of National Read to Achieve Week in Portland.
View photo gallery from the event
The Blazers practice court was transformed into five cozy reading corners, and Blazers players and coaches were joined by the Fire's Jenny Mowe, members of the Wheel Blazers wheelchair basketball team and BlazerDancers to host reading time outs in each corner. The students rotated through each corner, hearing a Blazers player read a book at every station, and received a book to take home.
Kids from Corvallis to Woodburn and all over the Portland Metro area received books from the Blazers and Scholastic during the NBA's National Read to Achieve Week. Nearly 3000 books were distributed to kids, in an effort to help young people develop a life-long love of reading, estimated to reach 50 million children every year.
Throughout the week Blazers Community Relations Team took the Read to Achieve show on the road.
By the end of the week Nick Jones, the Blazers Community Ambassador, along with Blaze, the new Blazers mascot visited close to 2,500 kids.
Nick provided a daily recap of the team's adventures as they traveled the state to talk about the Read to Achieve program.
Monday, October 21: Corvallis, Oregon
As Blaze and I traveled I-5 south we wondered, "What would the reception be like?" We went to the first school, Garfield Elementary and wow, they were overwhelmed! They loved the message but they really loved Blaze. After reciting the NBA Read to Achieve Reading Pledge, Blaze squirted the students the kids with silly string and off we went to the next school.
Wilson Elementary was equally receptive to the message and to Blaze as well. I think Blaze will be very successful, both in this program and at the Blazer games.
The Corvallis Boys & Girls Club was our last stop. Our group was a mix from the schools we had previously visited as well as students from Jefferson Elementary. The kids were really excited about Read to Achieve and of course, Blaze was a big hit!
Tuesday, October 22: Woodburn and SE Portland
Today we visited MacLaren Home for Boys and Rosemont Home for Girls. We went to MacLaren in the morning and met up with Ian Jaquiss of the Wheel Blazers. We talked to the 17-19 year old group. We talked about challenges and how important reading is and how important an education is. Usually when I start talking education I see their eyes glass over and mentally they go to sleep. But not today. They have a serious educational program going on at MacLaren and I think it has given many individuals hope that they can have a future. Ian challenged them to do the best that they can everyday. We finished with a tour of the facility and a quick trip to the gym to watch a basketball clinic.
In the afternoon myself and Jenny Mowe from the Portland Fire were at Rosemont School, a detention facility for girls in SE Portland. We had a very captive audience. I started off by talking about the importance of reading and the Read to Achieve movement. I let Jenny take over and she was just great. She talked about her struggles of being so tall and what size shoe she wears and how people she meets always tell her that she is "really tall". The girls were really interested in how to deal with peer pressure. We told them the importance of just saying "No".
The Read to Achieve Week culminated in an assembly with third grade students from Greeway Elementary School in Beaverton.
