Monumental Sports & Entertainment Staff Participate in Everybody Wins! DC Power Lunch Program

This school year 20 staff members from Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) participated in the Everybody Wins! DC Power Lunch program, a literacy and mentoring program based in select elementary schools in the Washington metropolitan area. The goal of Power Lunch is to encourage children’s interest in reading, expand their opportunities for success and facilitate meaningful volunteer contributions.

Through the Power Lunch program, MSE staff members – including employees from the Washington Capitals, Mystics, Wizards and Verizon Center – were paired with students at Garrison Elementary School in Washington, D.C., and Key Elementary School in Arlington, Va. Each week during the school year MSE staff members took time out of their days to visit with their mentees, spending time reading and sharing conversation during the lunch hour. The program concluded in May with year-end celebrations with each partner school during which all of the mentors and mentees were recognized for their hard work and dedication to the Power Lunch program.

Education is one of the five pillars that MSE uses as a foundation for its community outreach efforts. The Washington Wizards have been involved in the Power Lunch program for more than 10 years, and this school year the program expanded to include all MSE employees. Giving back to the community is one of MSE’s core values and the employees strive to achieve the double-bottom-line philosophy that the company stands by. The Power Lunch program gives MSE employees the opportunity to help fulfill MSE’s mission to serve the local community by taking one hour out of their week to mentor a child.

Everybody Wins! DC (EW! DC) is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting children’s literacy. The mission of EW!DC is to pair students with reading mentors to instill a love of reading and learning and foster a sense of self-esteem. The ideas behind their mission remain simple and straightforward, yet can bring about profound change in the lives of young students: expose children to literature, give them a positive role model, inspire them to read and you will make a difference in their lives.