Marco said it is proud to sponsor a new pilot programme designed to encourage young students to read books.
Through the programme, the St. Cloud Rox Project S.A.V.E. Foundation and St. Cloud Area School District 742 will provide a group of elementary students with a free reading book for six months during the school year.
The programme, named the RBI Club (adopting a well-known baseball glossary term for Runs Batted In), is using the acronym to impress upon young students the importance of Reading Books Independently.
The St. Cloud Area School District Community Education Department selected Oak Hill Community School to become the first beneficiary of the RBI Club, which will include 367 students from the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms. The Rox Project S.A.V.E. Foundation will fund the programme 100%, with corporate support from Marco, Wells, CLA, and BankVista.
“We are so grateful to the Rox Project S.A.V.E. Foundation for their ongoing partnership with our district and especially for creating the RBI Club. We can’t wait for these students to experience the joy of getting brand new books that are their very own,” said Lori Posch, Executive Director of Learning and Teaching at St. Cloud Area School District.
The free reading books for the Oak Hill School students will be chosen by classroom teachers in the three grade levels through Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books. Scholastic is currently in over 100,000 schools nationwide, including those in the St. Cloud Area School District.
“As a valued teammate to the many communities in Central Minnesota, the Rox Project S.A.V.E. Foundation is very proud and excited to play a role in a programme that can help create a pathway for the students to each become lifelong readers,” said Jim Loria, Chief Administrator of the foundation.
Project S.A.V.E. is a certified 501(c)(3) Charitable Foundation administered by the St. Cloud Rox Baseball Club. Its main purpose is to provide grants, donations and scholarships in support of youth-related programmes and activities involving sports, arts, volunteerism and education initiatives.
