[accessibleimage] Read to Achieve Week National Braille Press

Hi,
Forwarding from Duxbury list.
Lisa

BOSTON CELTICS AND DENVER NUGGETS TIP OFF NBA READ TO ACHIEVE WEEK WITH
BRAILLE READING EVENTS FOR 

VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHILDREN

NBA Joins With the National Braille Press to Focus on the Need to Promote
Literacy Among Blind Children

 
New York, October 25, 2004 ? To tip off NBA Read to Achieve Week, on
Thursday, October 21, Celtics All-Star captain Paul Pierce, rookie guard
Delonte West, Coach Doc Rivers and Managing Partner and CEO Wyc Grousbeck
spent time reading stories and participating in arts and crafts projects
with the students at the Perkins School for the Blind in a reading timeout
that was filmed for use in a public service announcement focusing on
Braille literacy. 
 
Denver Nuggets stars Carmelo Anthony, Marcus Camby, and Kenyon Martin
provided Braille books and reading to more than 2,500 preschoolers from
the Anchor Center for the Blind at the Denver Zoo on Monday, October 25.
The players conducted a special reading appearance, at the zoo, which with
nearly 4,000 different animals representing 750 species provides an ideal
location for visually-impaired children to explore and discover smells and
noises. The zoo even introduced a hedgehog and a snake for the children to
touch.


The partnership between Read to Achieve and National Braille Press is
designed to help draw attention to the importance of literacy for all
children, particularly for thousands of blind and visually impaired
children nationwide who should be learning to read. The move to include
blind students in the Read to Achieve program was initiated last spring by
Grousbeck and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund, who have both been
touched by blindness in their lives. Literacy is the key to success in
life for all people and Braille is the only vehicle available to blind
individuals to achieve true literacy.  
 
?Blind children, for whom literacy is particularly vital and often
overlooked, deserve every opportunity to succeed ? especially the
opportunity for independence and success that literacy can provide,?
Grousbeck said.
 

 ?This opportunity to meet the players; share in the Read to Achieve
mission; and explore the Zoo promises to be an exciting and energizing
outing for the children and their families,? said Alice Applebaum,
Executive Director of Anchor Center for the Blind. ?Like all young
children, they love to be read to and hear stories.  Getting to do so with
pro-basketball players in such an enriched setting just adds to the fun.?

   
About National Braille Press
National Braille Press is a nonprofit publishing house founded in 1927 to
ensure that blind people have the same access to information as sighted
people in a medium that they can read ? Braille. The Press produces books
and periodicals for blind children and adults and actively promotes
Braille literacy. For more information about National Braille Press,
please visit [ http://www.nbp.org ]www.nbp.org.
 
About NBA Read to Achieve
Reaching an estimated 50 million children a year, the NBA Read to Achieve
program is the most extensive educational outreach initiative in the
history of professional sports.  Efforts of the program include the
donation of more than a million books and magazines through a variety of
reading events and incentive programs, as well as the development of essay
contests and on-line programs.  In an effort to provide greater access to
books and technology, the NBA and its teams, along with companies such as
RIF®, Disney and Dell® have also created more than 90 Reading and Learning
Centers and more than 80 Reading Corners throughout North America, South
America and in South Africa. In addition to being supported by all NBA,
WNBA and NBDL teams, Read to Achieve is supported by the NBA's officials,
coaches, parents and wives of players organizations, and the NBA Players
Association and Retired Players Association.

                                                

CONTACT:    Farra D?Orazio, Boston Celtics, (617) 854-8045

                        Teri Washington, Denver Nuggets, (303) 405-1123

                        Tanya M. Holton, National Braille Press, (617)
266-6160, ext. 15                                                 



Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter 
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx

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