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Mayor Browns 9th Annual Kids Summer Reading Challenge Award Ceremony

Contact: Peter K. Cutler
             (716) 851-4841   

OVER 2,000 EXPECTED TO ATTEND MAYOR BROWN’S 9TH ANNUAL KIDS SUMMER READING CHALLENGE AWARD CEREMONY

“Reading Rules!” Program Continues to be A Big Hit With Area Youth

For the 9th consecutive year, Mayor Byron W. Brown today handed out certificates of achievement and an assortment of prizes and gifts to children from across Western New York who successfully completed his “Reading Rules! Kids Summer Reading Challenge.” The event took place at the newly renovated Buffalo Convention Center.

“The response to my Summer Reading Challenge has grown every year since I started it as a State Senator in 2001, so it was only natural to continue the program as Mayor of Buffalo,” said Mayor Brown.  “This year’s program is bigger and better, showing the commitment of our region’s school children to reading over the summer.  I am proud of both the children and their parents for their participation in this worthy effort.”

Each student was required to read 7 books at or above their grade level, write summaries for each book and send them in by a predetermined deadline. The Reading Rules! Kids Summer Reading Challenge is designed to help students entering grades 1-12 maintain and improve their reading and writing skills that they learned during the previous school year and has accounted for over 33,000 books read by more than 6,000 students since 2001.

“I first started this reading challenge after learning of the declining reading scores on statewide tests among elementary school children,” said Mayor Brown.  “It is my firm belief that in order to succeed academically and to succeed in life, our children must become proficient in reading and writing.  The Summer Reading Challenge is focused directly on that objective and I am pleased that the challenge continues to grow and expand every year.”

This year’s sponsors include a variety of area businesses, financial institutions and cultural institutions that joined the Mayor in his acknowledgement of the kids’ achievements.

Rent-A-Center donated more than $8,000 worth of brand new Acer Aspire laptop computers to 18 Buffalo Public School students as part of the company’s Random Acts of Caring program. Darien Lake Resort and PARC Foundation donated 1,200 Fright Fest admission tickets valued at $35,988 to the children who successfully completed the Summer Reading Challenge.
  
Also sponsoring the Summer Reading Challenge are: Veolia Water, Local Edge, Alternative Information Systems, AT&T,  Police Athletic League of Buffalo, Buffalo-Niagara Convention Center, General Mills, Buffalo Metropolitan FCU, Delaware North Companies, Wal-Mart, National Fuel, M & T Bank, Lamparelli Construction, Buffalo Teacher’s Federation Buffalo Public Schools, Algonquin Studios, First Impressions Apparel, King Corporate Services, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo Zoo, Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo Botanical Gardens, Buffalo Read to Succeed, Darwin Martin House Complex, Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site, Buffalo Naval and Serviceman’s Park, Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society.

The prize pack that each student receives includes free admission passes to: Darien Lake’s Fright Fest, The Buffalo Zoo, Buffalo Botanical Gardens, The Frank Lloyd Wright Darwin Martin House Complex, The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site, Naval and Military Park, The Buffalo Museum of Science, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and The Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society; a box of General Mills cereal, free books, a Reading Rules! t-shirt, as well as discount coupons to local retailers, and much more.

Prizes in the event raffle included: laptop and desktop computers, 100 bicycles, Sony Playstations, CD players, gift certificates, and much more.