The back-to-back NBA Champion Golden State Warriors will launch their 2018 “Back to School in the Bay” initiative this week in an effort to help raise awareness about the importance of education and to get students excited for the upcoming school year. The first event, Get Fit Time-Out, presented by Kaiser Permanente, will take place on Wednesday, September 12 at Willie Brown Middle School (2055 Silver Ave.) in San Francisco, where 70 students from the Beacon after school program will learn the importance of physical activity, mindfulness and good nutrition alongside Warriors center Damian Jones.
Later in the month, the Warriors will host a Read to Achieve Reading Rally, presented by Ross Stores on Tuesday, September 18 at Vargas Elementary School in Sunnyvale, where a Warriors player will speak to students about the importance of reading and read alongside them. On Thursday, September 20 the Warriors will host Get Fit Time-Out, presented by Kaiser Permanente at Coliseum College Prep Academy in Oakland, where 270 students from the after school program will learn about the importance of physical activity, mindfulness and good nutrition. Specific Warriors players for the above events will be announced at a later date.
This summer, the Warriors, in partnership with Ross Stores, also hosted two special Read to Achieve Summer Reading Time-Outs at the Oakland Public Library (OPL) and the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL). Over 150 youth attended and were treated to a reading by Olympic gold medalist Ruthie Bolton and Warriors’ alum Kelenna Azubuike (pictured right). The readings were in support of OPL’s Summer Reading Challenge, a three month program that encourages children, teens and adults to read during summer break, and SFPL’s Summer Stride: Read. Explore. Connect. Program., which encourages nearly 12,000 students to track their reading time and to stop by their local library for books and more.
In conjunction with the summer learning programs, the Oakland and San Francisco Public Libraries unveiled Warriors-themed library cards to help encourage literacy and prevent summer learning loss among Bay Area students. The Warriors have also distributed over 3,500 backpacks this year to various organizations and schools throughout the Bay Area. On August 7, the Warriors, in partnership with JP Morgan Chase, donated 350 backpacks to Lions Creek Crossing as part of their National Night Out celebration.