ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Five hundred Atlanta area elementary students will have new backpacks with three books each ahead of summer break as the result of a partnership between Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, and First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that has delivered more than 160 million books and educational resources to programs and schools with children in need.
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On the afternoon of Thursday, May 11, 50 Wipro volunteers will complete a Backpack Build of 500 backpacks and 1,500 books at Wipro’s facility located on Woodcock Boulevard in Atlanta. On the morning of Friday, May 12, the backpacks will be delivered to Brockett Elementary School, located at 1855 Brockett Road in Tucker, as part of a reading celebration. During the event, Wipro volunteers will read to children and an additional 500 books will be donated by Wipro and First Book for the school’s library.
"The Brockett School Community is excited to partner with Wipro and First Book,” said Venessa Bines-Truitt, Principal of Brockett Elementary. “It takes a village to raise a child, is a popular proverb with a clear message: the whole community has an essential role to play in the growth and development of its young people. We believe partnerships with parents, families, communities, and other stakeholders are essential to quality public education and student success. Brockett Elementary is grateful for the volunteer support and literacy resources donated to our school by Wipro."
Wipro has previously worked with First Book to donate more than 6,200 books to students at Mary Bethune Elementary School in Atlanta in September 2015. The 2,000-book Brockett Elementary donation is part of a three-year partnership between Wipro and First Book to distribute more than 250,000 books across North America to children in need.
“We have a strong presence in Atlanta and are happy to be engaged in a meaningful program that benefits our local community,” said Anurag Behar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Wipro Ltd. “Our hope is that our reading-focused efforts at Brockett Elementary will help make an impact on these students’ learning during the critical summer months.”
A simple bag of books can help beat Summer Slide. In fact, research shows that children who are given access to books over the summer perform 35-40 percent better on reading achievement tests than those without access to books. Book ownership and a print-rich environment are leading indicators of a child’s educational success, but for the 32 million children growing up in low-income families in the U.S. alone, books are scarce. A recent study found that in one low-income neighborhood, there was only one book for more than 800 children, whereas in moderate income neighborhoods, there are 13 books for every one child.1
First Book, which has operations in both the U.S. and Canada, works with formal and informal educators serving children in need aged between 0-18 years in a wide range of settings – from schools, classrooms, summer school and parks and recreational programs, to health clinics, homeless shelters, faith-based programs, libraries, museums, summer food sites and more. The organization estimates there are more than 1.3 million classrooms and programs that are serving children in need in the U.S. alone, more than 4,500 of which sign up with First Book every month.
“Wipro and its employees in Atlanta and across North America continue to go above and beyond to help bring First Book’s resources into the communities where they work and live,” said Kyle Zimmer, president and CEO of First Book. “Thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of Wipro’s employees at reading events and at book distributions, along with Wipro’s financial support, tens of thousands of children will experience the transformative power of books, to fuel learning and unlock their futures. We are enormously grateful.”
About First Book
First Book is a nonprofit social enterprise founded in 1992 that has distributed more than 160 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families throughout the United States and Canada, which, with more than 275,000 members, is the largest and fastest growing network of educators exclusively serving kids in need. By making new, high-quality books and educational resources available on an ongoing basis, First Book is transforming the lives of children in need and elevating the quality of education. Eligible educators, librarians, program leaders, and others serving children in need can sign up at firstbook.org/register. For more information, please visit firstbook.org or follow the latest news on Facebook and Twitter.
About Wipro Limited.
Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading information technology, consulting and business process services company that delivers solutions to enable its clients do business better. Wipro delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of “Business through Technology.” By combining digital strategy, customer centric design, advanced analytics and product engineering approach, Wipro helps its clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, Wipro has a dedicated workforce of over 170,000, serving clients across 6 continents. For more information, please visit www.wipro.com.
Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.
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