Rent-to-own News - Rent-A-Center donates laptops to Buffalo students in "Random Act of Caring"

(L-R) Evan Manley, Rent-A-Center regional director,, is joined by students who won the computers, a mother of a winning student and Mayor Bryon W. Brown at the Reading Rules! 2010 Kids Summer Reading Challenge awards ceremony.

In recognition of National Literacy Month, Rent-A-Center employees this week, joined Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and hundreds of Buffalo Public School students at the annual awards ceremony of the Mayor’s Reading Rules! 2010 Kids Summer Reading Challenge.

Rent-A-Center donated more than $8,000 worth of brand new Acer Aspire laptop computers to 18 children that attend school in the City of Buffalo as part of the company’s Random Acts of Caring program.

 The high performance laptops feature a widescreen LED screen, a high definition Webcam, a full size keyboard, multimedia programming and wireless internet capabilities. The computers are intended to help the children to continue to excel in school and to encourage their love of reading.

“Rent-A-Center has generously and continuously supported my Summer Reading program for the past three years,” said Mayor Brown. “During that time they have underscored their commitment to the core principle of this initiative: promoting literacy and learning among our youth. Thanks again to Rent-A-Center’s generosity, 18 City of Buffalo school children who participated in the Summer Reading program will receive new state-of-the-art computers, which will contribute significantly to their individual academic endeavors. On behalf of all the children who have benefitted from their annual contributions to this program, I thank the management of Rent-A-Center for being so supportive.”

Rent-A-Center’s donation to the Reading Rules! 2010 Kids Summer Reading Challenge marks the third year the company has contributed to the program to help encourage literacy among students who attend schools throughout the City of Buffalo.  Rent-A-Center has now donated more than $27,000 in academic scholarships, gift certificates and new computers to the program.

Children that participate in The Reading Rules! Kids Summer Reading Challenge program are required to read seven books over the course of the summer and write a brief summary on each book.  The summaries are sent to Mayor Brown and in exchange each participant is invited to attend an awards ceremony.  In the past eight years, thousands of students have completed the program by reading at least seven books.

“We commend Mayor Brown for taking such an active leadership role to promote literacy among students in the Buffalo Public Schools,” said Evan Manley, regional director, Rent-A-Center.  “We are pleased to lend our support to such a worthwhile program and appreciate the opportunity to participate.”

 In New York, Rent-A-Center operates 176 stores including 45 in the Western New York and 15 in the City of Buffalo.  The company also operates a national product service center in Liverpool.