Share The Dream: NBA Champs And Rock Financial Team Up To Fight Illiteracy
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. February 14 - Beginning February 14, 2005 the Detroit Pistons and Rock Financial will again extend their partnership and fight illiteracy by selling "Share the Dream" bracelets at all Pistons outlets and online.
The "Pistons blue" rubber bracelets will sell for $2.00 apiece and all proceeds will benefit the Pistons-Palace Foundation's Read to Achieve program. Bracelets are available at all Pistons Locker Room stores or online at www.pistons.com or www.rockfinancial.com.
"The problem of illiteracy in our area has reached an extremely critical point," said Pistons CEO Tom Wilson. "We can't sweep studies like the one conducted recently by the University of Wisconsin that ranked Detroit 69th out of 79 cities that have adult reading deficiencies, under the rug. And then to learn that illiteracy rates of 30-percent in Wayne County, 10-percent in Oakland County and 15-percent in Macomb County exist; we should all be motivated to get involved for the cause." "The 22,000 Pistons' fans who attended the Martin Luther King, Jr. day game in January each received a 'Share the Dream' bracelet," said David Hall, Senior Vice President of Rock Financial. "They were so popular, we decided that we needed to find a way to keep the dream alive and continue to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. What better way than to support such an incredible, benchmark reading program like the Pistons' Read to Achieve?"
"The Detroit Pistons Read to Achieve program, which has donated over 100,000 books in its three years of existence, gives us a great tool in the fight against illiteracy," said Wilson. "When we go into schools, particularly when we focus on younger kids, and someone like Ben Wallace or Chauncey Billups or Darvin Ham, their heroes, are telling them that if they want to succeed, they HAVE to be able to read, well you send a very powerful, positive message."
To purchase tickets for any upcoming home game, please contact The Palace at (248) 377-0100 or visit www.pistons.com.
About Read to Achieve
The NBA's Read to Achieve program is a year-round campaign to help young people develop a life-long love for reading and encourage adults to read regularly to children. Reaching an estimated 50 million children a year, Read to Achieve is the most extensive educational outreach initiative in the history of professional sports. In addition to being supported by all 30 NBA teams, 13 WNBA teams, the eight teams that make up the NBA's new minor league, and the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), Read to Achieve is supported by the NBA's officials, parents and wives of players organizations, and the NBA Players Association and Retired Players Association.
About Rock Financial
Rock Financial is the presenting sponsor of the Detroit Pistons. Rock Financial is a Quicken® Loans® company and Michigan's largest mortgage company. Quicken Loans Inc./Rock Financial closed nearly $12 billion in mortgage loans during calendar year 2004. The Livonia-Michigan based company has 2,400 team members and was named to FORTUNE Magazine's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in America in 2005. For more information about Rock Financial visit www.RockFinancial.com.
