Program advances literacy, fostering a love of reading

Minneapolis/St. Paul — The Minnesota Timberwolves, Lynx and Xcel Energy celebrated National Reading Month with the culmination of Read to Achieve. The program, which encourages the advancement of literacy and fostering a love of reading among youth, challenges students (K-5th grade) throughout the state to read 500 minutes over the course of four months throughout the school year.

As the most engaged school in the program, Edgerton Elementary School was recognized by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Lynx and Xcel Energy with a special Reading Rally Day celebration that highlighted the importance and impact of literacy. In addition, each student received a co-branded Timberwolves and Xcel Energy LED nightlight, snacks and complimentary Kid’s Meal cards from Chick-fil-A and other giveaways. Each student also selected a book from the Education Station powered by Xcel Energy while enjoying reading sessions led by Timberwolves, Lynx and Xcel Energy staff.

As part of the Read to Achieve program, the Education Station is a mobile bookstore that provides thousands of free books to students. This year, Edgerton Elementary in Maplewood, Minn. took the top prize for most minutes read through Read to Achieve, reading more than 157,000 minutes. Across the Twin Cities, more than 7,000 students completed over 1.8 million minutes of reading through the program.  The Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx and Xcel Energy are proud to team up on the Education Station, a bookmobile that promotes literacy and provides free books to youth across the greater Twin Cities area. Xcel Energy is committed to positively impacting and serving its customers by supporting causes that contribute to the well-being of the communities it serves. This important program is part of the Timberwolves and Lynx mission to advance the well-being of youth through promoting literacy and education initiatives.