People's United Bank and Jon Lester Join Forces to Support ReadBoston

BOSTON, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- People's United Bank along with professional pitcher Jon Lester, who serves as the bank's Massachusetts marketing spokesperson, are joining forces to support the efforts of ReadBoston, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that Boston children are proficient readers.    

Beginning in April and continuing through September, Lester will visit schools and community-based organizations in Boston and read to children.   

"Jon has superb interpersonal skills and a great reputation that have made him a role model both on and off the field," said Tim Crimmins, President, People's United Bank, Massachusetts. "We feel that he is the perfect person to help promote the importance of literacy to children in the Boston community and we know the kids will be delighted to meet him."

"I am looking forward to the chance to sit and read with the children of Boston," Lester said. "The future of our city is based on the success of today's children and I am honored to have an opportunity to work with People's United Bank to help our kids through ReadBoston."

"ReadBoston is the city's only comprehensive early literacy program and we strive to reach Boston's children every day throughout the year," said Theresa Lynn, Executive Director, ReadBoston. "We are always looking to create partnerships with organizations and individuals who share our enthusiasm for helping the community.  People's United Bank and Jon Lester fit the bill perfectly."

The partnership between the bank and Lester to help ReadBoston builds on a solid foundation of cooperation between People's United Bank and the literacy group since the bank opened its first two branches in the city.

"People's United Bank has a 170-year history of supporting the communities it serves, so when we opened our Boston branches at Prudential Center and Milk Street, in January 2011, we were pleased to have our initial opportunity to support ReadBoston's mission of extending the joy of reading to Boston's youth," Crimmins said.

"In July of 2011, we again worked with ReadBoston, when we helped Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who founded the program in 1995 with other city leaders, at the kick-off of the ReadBoston Storymobile program at the TADpole Playground on the Boston Common. Once again we have been given the opportunity to work with ReadBoston and we couldn't be more excited."

The ReadBoston Storymobiles travel to summer programs throughout the city for seven weeks each summer. Professional storytellers provide children with entertaining stories and every child who attends takes a book home.

ReadBoston is a local non-profit founded by Mayor Thomas Menino and other city leaders in 1995, with the goal of ensuring Boston's children are on the path to reading success. ReadBoston is able to support children's literacy through innovative early childhood, school-based and community-based programs.  

People's United Bank is a subsidiary of People's United Financial, Inc., a diversified financial services company with $28 billion in assets. People's United Bank, founded in 1842, is the largest independent bank headquartered in New England and provides commercial and retail banking, as well as wealth management services through a network of 360 retail locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Maine. Through its subsidiaries, People's United Financial provides equipment financing, brokerage and insurance services.

SOURCE People's United Bank