Vipers Drop Everything And Read:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Vipers drop everything and read

by viper staff Added 2009-10-26

The British Columbia Teacher-librarians' Association has dropped the gauntlet. They challenged the Premier, members of the legislature, and people across BC to "Drop Everything and Read" (DEAR) for 20 minutes on Monday, October 27 and the Vernon Vipers were out at Mission Hill Elementary to take part in the event and read to their students.

Kevin Kraus, Mike Collins, Garrett Noonan and Cole Ikkala all showed up to the school with books in hand to Drop Everything And Read. The Vipers organizations tries to get out to schools as much as possible to help teach kids the importance of reading and this event was one they weren't going to miss.

"We know how some kids look up to us" Captain Kevin Kraus commented, "and for us to be at an event that focuses on the importance of reading we knew we had to participate. It is fun to meet our younger fans, read some books and answer questions."

Teacher-librarians strongly support Premier Campbell's goal of making BC the most literate province in Canada and know the impact that good modeling has on children. BC teacher-librarians are encouraging all British Columbians to participate in the Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) Challenge.

In most schools, the event was held between 11:00 am and 11:20 am, but the timing was not as important as involvement and the Vipers stayed for a lot longer then 20 minutes! The players left the books they brought to be added to the school library and students were already asking if they can take them home first.

The Vipers would like to thank Mission Hill Elementary for inviting them to the DEAR Challenge and look forward to visiting them again to read more books.