Milwaukee Bucks players Brandon Jennings #3 Guard and Tobias Harris, #15 Forward read to area grade school children during Reading Blast Event. (Photo by Robert A. Bell)
On Tuesday, March 6, the Bucks players, along with coaches and mascot Bango, hosted 1,000 Milwaukee grade school students at the Bradley Center for an afternoon of reading and entertainment at the 14th annual Bucks and Sam’s Hope Literacy Foundation Book Blast. The afternoon is geared toward building a love of reading in students.
The children arrived and selected a brand new book, donated by Scholastic Book Fairs, K.I.D.S. and New Threads of Hope, to take home for their own personal library before being treated to an entertainment show by Bango and company. The players and coaches joined in on the fun, dividing the students into smaller groups in order to read and discuss the books with them.
The schools attending this year’s event were: Bruce Elementary, Hartford University School, French Immersion, Milwaukee Urban Day School – 12th and 24th Street Sites, and Travis Academy.
Sam’s Hope was founded by three local teenagers and continues to be staffed by high school and college student volunteers.
This 2011-12 season marks the 14th year that the Bucks and Sam’s Hope have partnered together to place new books in the hands of thousands of children in need in Milwaukee.
To view more details about the Bucks partnership with Sam’s Hope, please visit the Community Relations page on Bucks.com: http://www.nba.com/bucks/community/sams_hope.html.