Angels Hit Home Run With Books
Many sports teams are committed to actively participating in their communities. I remember growing up when Major League Baseball teams rewarded students in junior high with tickets to a baseball game, based on getting good grades. I also remember taking advantage of the free ticket while living in the Bay Area. it was a great way to fill seats in the summer and of course kids usually brought their parents so there was at last one paid ticket in the park. It was a soft sell of buy one and get one free. Plus, it made the teams look good.
So it was no surprise when I recently came across one community program the Los Angeles Angels were leading in conjunction with local Orange County libraries.
This program, called “Home Run Readers” is a summer reading program geared to teenagers between the ages of 13-18. It requires three simple items as a participant. 1) Sign up at a participating library 2) Keep track of your reading time and 3) Receive rewards and a chance to win prizes.
While most of these community programs are backed by corporate sponsors, everyone wins. In this case, kids hopefully are reading more books, the Angels have improved their image in the community and hopefully getting more people into the park and corporate sponsors are affiliating with a positive experience.
Here are just a few listings of some of the program’s corporate partners: Cold Stone Creamery, The Festival of Arts, In-N-Out Burger, Del Taco, Stone Fire Grill and Dave and Buster’s. The surprise corporate partner in this was another Sports Team in the Community: The Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Angels have 32 different cities participating in Home Run Readers program. The funny thing is, if you are going to brand the team the Los Angeles Angels, shouldn’t there by a few schools in the Los Angeles county to help make the overall brand consistent. All of the schools I saw on the Major League Baseball site appeared to be in Orange County.
If you would like to see additional details about this program, you can click on the rally monkey for a live link.
No question about it. The Angels hit a home run with books and children this summer.
