Oakland Raider defensive end Justin Tuck has been named the Week 2 NFLPA Community MVP today, after his R.U.S.H. for Literacy foundation’s kickoff event at Alliance Academy in Oakland, CA this past Monday was a big success.
Nearly 400 students joined Justin and his wife, Lauran Tuck, to learn about the importance of literacy and its impact on academic success. Students and teachers engaged in conversations with the Tucks, discussing the topic of “What literacy means to them”, according to a NFLPA news release.
“What teachers do is so important and they are so passionate, they inspire me, Tuck said at the event. “And to hear the kids talk about the books we gave them to read over the summer is awesome; they are back to school and ready.”
The Tucks took the opportunity to speak and take photos with students, using these moments to stress the importance of self-confidence and perseverance in the face of adversity.
The kickoff program was part of Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy, a non-profit organization aimed at providing resources and opportunities to low-income youth in an effort to promote literacy.
Founded in 2008 by the Tucks, the foundation started small by distributing books and supporting materials to the community. Now in its eighth season of service, Tuck’s R.U.S.H for Literacy has provided an estimated 14,000 children with books and supplied 86,000 books to seven middle schools in New York, New Jersey and Central Alabama. The organization has also given more than $600,000 in grant funding to literacy initiatives.
“Research tells us that education is the quickest route to economic mobility in this country,” Tuck said. “Education is an equalizer and the ability to read is the foundation of every education, that’s why we began Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy eight years ago with a focus on literacy. Though we have done a few other projects in the education space through our organization over the years, literacy has remained a focus, specifically early literacy and summer learning loss.”
Most recently, the Tucks’ non-profit has added initiatives focused on stemming summer learning loss and improving financial literacy amongst low-income youth. In the fall of 2013, in partnership with The Children’s Aid Society, The 1:1 Fund, and Citi Foundation, Justin and Lauran helped launched “CAS College Savers.”
The program provides in-need New York City students with the necessary financial literacy education for creating college savings. According to their foundation’s resources, the Tucks chose this approach because of the extensive research supporting the positive relationship between college savings and college access: children with a college savings account in their own name are seven times more likely to go to college than children without an account.
“Expanding my charity work to the Oakland community was easy, largely because the Raiders’ organization has been so helpful and supportive,” Tuck said. “It’s an honor to use the platform that the NFL provides to talk about education and to help close the opportunity gaps in the education space. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to help students and schools across the country.”
To learn more about Tuck’s R.U.S.H for Literacy and its upcoming events, please visit: rushforliteracy.org.
All images used in this piece provided by rushforliteracy.org.
