The annual Rider Reading Program from the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation kicked off this week with a special event at Grant Road School in Regina.  Players Micah Johnson, Brett Lauther and Mitch Picton spent the day visiting classrooms and reading to students.

The Rider Reading Program is for students in kindergarten through Grade three, to foster a love of reading, with the goal of improving literacy rates across the province. In the past year, the Rider Reading Program visited 105 schools, completing 404 reading presentations.

The Roughrider foundation has also announced a new literacy initiative. Passing Pages, now through Christmas Eve, and invites individuals and organizations to support youth literacy by providing curriculum-specific books to classrooms in need. For instance, a $100 donation supplies five books to a kindergarten classroom and $1,000 provides an entire classroom with curriculum-specific books and includes a special visit from Roughrider player ambassador.