Tomorrow, 100 students will join Mayor Brown and representatives from Rent-A-Center to celebrate the center’s donation to the Mayor’s Reading Rules! 2008 Kids Summer Reading Challenge. As part of the center’s This Random Act of Caring initiative, they are donating more than $30,000 to area literacy efforts and flying representatives in from their headquarters in Plano, Texas.
$21,000 will be donated in scholarships, computers, and gift certificates to Talking Leaves bookstores for students who have participated in the Mayor’s program. The kids in attendance tomorrow have all taken part in the program and two students will get to read from their favorite summer books from this past summer. More than 3,400 students took part in the program this past summer, each reading at least seven books and writing a summary on each.
In addition, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System is also getting a boost from Rent-A-Center. The center is donating $10,000 to help finance the purchasing of financial literacy materials and programs for the communities at eight of their branches. The library system was recognized for their help in fulfilling the mission of the Mayor’s program.
The celebration is tomorrow, September 17th, at 10 AM at the Public School 99 Stanley M. Makowski Early Childhood Center at 1095 Jefferson Avenue. Local elected officials, the commissioner of the Buffalo Community Services and Recreation Department, Bridget Quinn-Carey, director of the Buffalo and Erie County Library System, as well as the Mayor, children, and senior vice-president of Rent-A-Center will all be present for this momentous occasion.
Rent-A-Center’s This Random Act of Caring program was launched seven months ago and a random act is done each month in the form of a donation. So far, Rent-A-Center has made the following donations across NY:
+In February, Rent-A-Center coworkers went door-to-door in Elmira, NY providing 400 families with $50 credits on their NYSEG home heating bills.
+In March, Rent-A-Center coworkers handed out 10,000 RGRTA Freedom Passes in Rochester, NY to assist individuals and community groups with mass transportation needs.
+In April, Rent-A-Center coworkers provided $30 gas gift cards to several hundred community volunteers in Albany,Schenectady and Troy, NY to say “thank you” during National Volunteer Appreciation Week.
+In May, Rent-A-Center coworkers provided furnishing makeovers for three nurses’ lounges at Harlem Hospital Center in honor of National Nurses’ Appreciation Day. The company also provided meals for the nursing staff.
+In June, Rent-A-Center coworkers turned Friday the 13th into a lucky day for 1,000 Brooklynites, who each received two tickets to a Brooklyn Cyclones game. In addition, $1,300 was donated to Camp Brooklyn to help sponsor young people attend camp.
+In July, Rent-A-Center coworkers treated a group of underprivileged young people from the Syracuse SouthwestCommunity Center to a night at the ball park, which included a picnic dinner, Sky Chiefs game and fireworks display.
In August, Rent-A-Center coworkers ensured that 120 nursing students – the entire student population with a declared nursing major – at Clinton Community College in Plattsburgh received a $100 textbook credit for the upcoming fall semester to help off-set the high cost of textbooks.