Brasfield & Gorrie Kicks off Reading Program at Avondale Elementary
September 16, 2013
Employees participate in volunteer program to encourage reading
Birmingham, Ala. (Sept. 16, 2013) –Brasfield & Gorrie employees are going back to school the week of Sept. 16, 2013 to kick off the Reading Buddy Program at Avondale Elementary School. Designed to help students improve their reading skills, the Reading Buddy Program partners volunteers from Brasfield & Gorrie’s Birmingham office with first-grade students.
“Reading is fundamental to learning,” said Jim Gorrie, Brasfield & Gorrie President and CEO. “By helping students with this basic element of education, we are helping enhance their chances for academic success.”
More than 50 Brasfield & Gorrie employees have signed up to participate in the yearlong program. Each volunteer is required to commit a minimum of three hours each month to assist students at the school with reading assignments. Employees will listen as students read aloud from books provided by the school and will help them identify words and images as they read.
Brasfield & Gorrie Director of Human Resources Rebecca Brown has participated in the reading program for the past two years. The busy professional, who is also a wife and mother, looks forward to her visits at the neighborhood school.
“The Reading Buddy Program enables me to make a meaningful contribution to the students while enriching my own life,” Brown said. “We are fortunate that our company allows us the time to give back to the community in this way,” Brown said.
The Reading Buddy Program is part of Brasfield & Gorrie’s ongoing partnership with Avondale Elementary School. In previous years, the company has organized book fairs and other activities to support the school.
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About Brasfield & Gorrie
Brasfield & Gorrie is one of the nation’s largest privately held construction firms, providing general contracting, design-build, and construction management services for a wide variety of markets, including healthcare, commercial, institutional, federal, municipal, industrial, infrastructure, and water/wastewater treatment. We serve clients from offices in Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Dallas, Texas; Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; and Raleigh, North Carolina. Brasfield & Gorrie has approximately 2,900 employees, and its 2012 revenues were $2 billion. Engineering News-Record ranks Brasfield & Gorrie 31st among the nation’s “Top 400 Contractors” for 2013.