First Book Canada and Raptors 905 Celebrate 2018 Peel District School Board Reading Champions

Hershey Centre celebration event recognizes achievement of students from Peel schools

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario (February 28, 2018) – On Tuesday, February 27^th, over 300 students from schools in the Peel District School Board celebrated the culmination of the Raptors 905 Winter Warm Up Reading Challenge at the Hershey Centre. The program challenged fifth grade students to read and submit a book review on one book each week, for seven weeks. As part of the Reading Challenge, students had the opportunity to attend a Raptors 905 game and have a virtual class visit with one of the authors. This program is generously sponsored by Bank of Montreal, Compugen’s Green4Good program, Raptors 905, and Pizza Hut.

“Raptors 905 couldn’t be happier with this program and the enthusiasm that has been shown by everyone involved, especially the fifth grade students from across the PDSB,” said John Wiggins, Director of Team Operations for Raptors 905. “This is the second year that we have had this program and the growth from last year to this year is exciting. I look forward to seeing how we can continue to grow this initiative to support our community and encourage more engagement with the youth of Peel Region.”

The celebration day at the Hershey Centre included special guests Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and celebrated Canadian author Eric Walters, as well as the opportunity for students to learn first aid and basketball skills, and receive additional books from Nelson Education to take home. The celebration day also revealed the winning class of the Raptors 905 Winter Warm Up Reading Challenge, who received the Reading Champions banner to hang in their school.

“This experience defined the concept of ‘real-world’ learning,” said Heather Wellard, teacher of the winning class from Tony Pontes Public School, “my students transformed into book critics, news reporters, and graphic designers in order to give their opinions on literature that they may never have been exposed to otherwise. Students had to meet deadlines, be creative, connect and share with the world using social media.  What an engaging, valuable, and rewarding program for young readers.”

“All of us at First Book Canada are inspired and in awe of the work, the creative effort, and enthusiasm each Peel Elementary School has put into this reading program,” said Tom Best, Executive Director of First Book Canada. “All the students and teachers have risen to the challenge, and they are all champions. We are so grateful for the full support of our sponsors, especially the Raptors 905 organization for fully embracing this program.”

About Compugen’s Green4Good®

Green4Good® is an IT asset re-use and recycling program under Compugen Finance Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Compugen Inc. The Green4Good program operates under the guidance of a volunteer Board of Advisors made up of IT and environmental industry leaders. To date, the Green4Good program has processed over 1,500,000 unique IT-related assets and raised over $2.8M for charity while re-using over 92% of the technology.   Green4Good also recently launched a new program called CarbonBank™ which provides their clients with self-generated Carbon Credits through the refurbishing of their IT assets.  These Carbon Credits can be used to lower their Carbon Footprint.  If you have any questions about the Green4Good program or CarbonBank, please feel free to contact Brent Smiley, Director of Green4Good, bsmiley@compugen.com.

About First Book Canada

First Book Canada provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books. By making new, high quality books available on an ongoing basis, First Book Canada is transforming the lives of children and elevating the quality of education in the country. Since 2009, First Book Canada has distributed over 6 million new books to hundreds of thousands of children in need across Canada. For more information, or to register for books, visit us at firstbookcanada.org and follow our latest news on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Media Contact:

Tom Best, Executive Director, First Book Canada
tbest@firstbook.org
866.732.3669 ext. 0130

###