Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade has donated a lead gift to Marquette University’s Ralph C. Hartman Literacy and Learning Center to launch a summer reading program that will bear his name.
Wade played basketball for Marquette University while attending the school from 2000 to 2003, when he led the team to its first Final Four appearance since 1977. He is donating the funds through his Wade’s World Foundation, which assists community-based organizations focused on serving youth with educational, health and social programming.
The Dwayne Wade “Live to Dream” Summer Reading Program, facilitated through the Hartman Center, will cater to Milwaukee second- and third-grade students and will advance the center’s current school-year reading program. The center acts as a teaching, research and service site where the university’s undergraduate teachers who are preparing for their careers tutor inner-city students in reading and math.
Wade has announced that he will donate $65,000 each year for three years to the program and is encouraging others to match that amount in order to fund the program for six years.
“We believe that every child deserves a shot, and I am proud to impact children on the very same campus of Marquette University where I was a student,” Wade said. “My hope is that the children will envision themselves as future Marquette students where they can one day transform their lives through higher education.”
Through the new summer reading program, which is slated to begin in 2015, participating students will also be granted free transportation to and from the Hartman Center on the university’s campus.
To ramp up support for the new program, Marquette will hold a book drive during the Dec. 6 Marquette v. Wisconsin men’s basketball game at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The drive will collect new and gently used children’s books to benefit the Hartman Center and partner schools.
Individuals interested in donating to the “Live to dream” Summer Reading Program should visit www.marquette.edu/livetodream.
