Mississauga, ON: On Tuesday, March 26, 2019, over 400 students from the Peel District School Board and Dufferin Catholic School Board gathered at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre to celebrate the completion of the Raptors 905 Reading Challenge, a seven-week-long reading program. This challenge asked students from 20 grade five classes to read and write a review on one book each week for seven weeks. Over the course of the challenge, students also had the opportunity to attend a Raptors 905 game, have virtual author visits, and participate in live Twitter chats with authors. This program is generously sponsored by Bank of Montreal, Compugen Finance’s Green4Good program, and Raptors 905.

“This challenge and our Celebration Day today was an incredibly rich, engaging and unforgettable experience for every single one of my students, including my reluctant readers!” said Ann Marie Ricardo, teacher of the winning class from St. Hilary Catholic School. Their class was recognized as this year’s 905 Reading Challenge Champions as a result of their drive, commitment, and imagination. They were awarded a banner to hang in their school gym.

During the Celebration Day, students participated in basketball drills and had the opportunity to choose two books to take home and continue their reading. Special guests Kevin Sylvester (author of The Almost Epic Squad: Mucus Mayhem) and Kenneth Oppel (author of Inkling) were also present to meet with the students and sign their books. Kenneth Oppel also received an award – his book, Inkling, was chosen as the Student’s Choice Award Winner for this year’s program!

“The Raptors 905 Reading Challenge is easily our proudest community initiative because it allows our organization to support and engage with students and teachers across the Peel Region in a manner that doesn’t primarily involve a basketball,” said John Wiggins, Vice President for Raptors 905. “It’s amazing to see what these beautiful minds were able to accomplish; 7 books in 7 weeks! Most people don’t read 7 books all year! Anytime we have a chance to encourage that type of mental growth and stimulation, you can count on Raptors 905 to be there. Great job to everyone involved and we’re looking forward to helping grow this program so even more students can be involved!”

“The 905 Reading Challenge has been incredibly rewarding this year. All of us at First Book Canada are so proud of the students who have shown us how determined, hardworking, and creative they are,” said Tom Best, Executive Director of First Book Canada. “We have seen extraordinary effort from all the teachers participating who have gone above and beyond to make this challenge so successful. We are so thankful for all the support we have received from our sponsors BMO and Compugen Finance, and especially the Raptors 905 organization for always surpassing expectations in their support for this program.”

About Compugen Finance’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 1,600,000 unique IT-related assets and raised over $3.2M 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
Almost 25% of Canadian households do not have a single book. First Book Canada is transforming the lives of kids in need by making brand new, high-quality books and educational resources available on an ongoing basis. Through a market-driven model, First Book Canada is creating equal access to quality education affordable to its member network of more than 9,000 educators who exclusively serve kids in need. Since 2009, First Book Canada has distributed more than 7 million books and educational resources to hundreds of thousands of kids across Canada.

Eligible educators, program coordinators, librarians, and professionals serving kids in need can register at www.fbmpcanada.org/register. For more information, visit firstbookcanada.org and follow our latest news on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.