The free skills camps on July 9 and 10 will bring young athletes together
from across the city in partnership with local non-profits Behind
Every Door and Mercy Street
DALLAS, June 18,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Champions for Literacy, a
leading non-profit leveraging the power of sports to impact
childhood literacy, announced today it is teaming up with
SMU quarterback and Dallas-native Preston Stone to host two free football
camps for Dallas youth on
July 9 and 10 at the Cedar Crest
Community Center in South Oak
Cliff. In partnership with local non-profits Behind Every
Door and Mercy Street,
the United For Dallas camps will create unique leadership
opportunities for middle and high school athletes from across
Dallas to inspire reading in their
communities.
"We're spearheading a movement of empowering top athletes to
inspire lifelong readers and drive positive change in communities
across the country," said Jason
Baker, Executive Director of Champions for Literacy.
"Childhood literacy requires holistic community support, and we're
thrilled to partner with Preston, Behind Every Door and
Mercy Street on these upcoming
camps."
"I am excited to bring together young athletes of all different
backgrounds from across Dallas and
share my passion for both football and literacy to help equip and
inspire these students," said Preston
Stone, a 2020 Texas High School State Champion and
current SMU quarterback.
As part of the partnership, Champions for Literacy will make a
grant to support current and future literacy programs for
elementary school students at Behind Every Door and Mercy Street.
"These camps are a great example of how organizations can work
together to build pathways of hope in our community, and we're
thrilled our new Cedar Crest Community Center can be leveraged in
this way," said Darrion
Lewis, President & CEO of Behind Every Door. "We are
grateful for the support of Champions for Literacy as reading is a
significant focus of our programming. Studies strongly correlate
literacy with cascading effects on the life trajectory of a child,
and we're excited about the lifelong impact these camps will have
on the kids in our community."
"At Mercy Street, we are working to create a multicultural,
multiethnic, multigenerational movement of people that work
together to improve our city, and we're excited about how this camp
will help bring that vision to life as athletes of different
backgrounds come together around a common love of football while
bringing awareness to the importance of literacy," said
Carlton Oby, President &
CEO of Mercy Street.
The July 9 camp will feature a
small group of Behind Every Door and Mercy
Street program participants and public registration for the
camp on Wednesday, July 10 is open to
boys and girls ages 11-18. The camp will run from 4:00 –
7:00 PM at the newly renovated Behind
Every Door Cedar Crest Community Center.
To register a participant for the July
10 camp, click here.
About Champions for Literacy
Founded in 2013 by two
high school athletes, Champions for Literacy is a non-profit that
uses the power of sports to impact childhood reading by promoting
the importance of literacy, fundraising for effective literacy
programs, and harnessing the status of athletes to inspire kids to
become great readers. The organization has worked with over 150
college athletic programs and professional sports teams to impact
over 95,000 kids and drive positive change across the nation by
igniting an interest in literacy and inspiring lifelong readers.
Learn more at championsforlit.org.
Media Contact:
Stephen@ArvoPR.com
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SOURCE Champions for Literacy