In celebration of the National Basketball Association’s Read to Achieve Tip Off Week, members of the Charlotte Bobcats and Charlotte Sting organizations and local community leaders will join together to host reading events for children throughout the Charlotte area. The NBA’s Read to Achieve Week tips off Monday, October 20 and runs through Friday, October 24.

“Each year in our community, more than 4,000 children start kindergarten with little or no exposure to books, putting them at an immediate disadvantage for learning,” said Ed Tapscott, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Bobcats and Sting, who will work year-round with various groups and organizations throughout the Charlotte region to promote literacy and education. “This organization is committed to helping our neighbors in the fight against illiteracy throughout the Charlotte region.”

During Read to Achieve Week, Charlotte Bobcats and Charlotte Sting staff, including Tapscott, new Bobcats General Manager and Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff and Charlotte Sting Head Coach Trudi Lacey, will read to more than 350 children at local venues, including two elementary schools, two day care centers, a women’s shelter and a children’s hospital. Special features of the week include appearances by Sesame Street characters, reading sessions by the Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, local children’s author Glenda Manning, and other special guests.

Each child taking part in Read to Achieve Week will receive a book, a Bobcats t-shirt, bookmark and stickers. Books were donated to the Charlotte Bobcats by several local community partners: The Urban League of Central Carolinas, LightYears Children Inc., Enheart Publishing, Cricket Arena and Sesame Street, and Glenda Manning.

Throughout the week-long national event, the Bobcats and the NBA’s other 29 teams will host reading events in their communities to promote the importance of reading and education to local youth and their families.

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

In addition to being supported by all 30 NBA teams, Read to Achieve is championed by four WNBA teams, the six teams that make up the NBA’s minor league, the National Development League (NBDL), the NBA’s officials, parents and wives of players organizations, and the NBA Players Association and Retired Players Association.

The Charlotte Bobcats, who select fourth in the 2004 NBA Draft following an expansion draft of players from other NBA teams, will play their inaugural season in 2004-05 at the Charlotte Coliseum before moving to Charlotte’s new Uptown Arena beginning with the 2005-06 NBA season. The Charlotte Sting will play two seasons in the Coliseum prior to their first season in the new uptown arena beginning in the summer of 2006. For more information, visit the Bobcats online at www.bobcatsbasketball.com or Sting online at www.charlottesting.com.