Wipro, First Book Bring Backpacks, New Books to East Palo Alto Area Kids in Need

Volunteer-led partnership promotes power of reading and community engagement

Mountain View and East Palo Alto, USA, September 28, 2017: Five hundred Mountain View and East Palo Alto area elementary students will have new backpacks with three new books each for the new school year, as a result of a partnership between Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company and First Book. First Book is a nonprofit social enterprise that has delivered more than 170 million books and educational resources to programs and schools with children in need.

On September 28, Wipro volunteers will come together for a Backpack Build to fill 500 backpacks with 1,500 books at Wipro’s Silicon Valley Innovation Center in Mountain View. On September 29, the backpacks will be delivered to Aspire East Palo Alto Charter School, located on Runnymede Street, as part of a ‘reading celebration’. During the event, Wipro volunteers will read to children. Additional backpacks and gifts of books will be delivered to Mariano Castro Elementary School and Monta Loma Elementary School of the Mountain View Whisman School District. These books will be used to stock classroom libraries, facilitate reading circles, and help students build their home libraries. Wipro and First Book will be donating more than 6,500 books to the Mountain View and East Palo Alto community this year.

Wipro’s presence in the region includes its Silicon Valley Innovation Center in Mountain View, launched in August. On September 17, Wipro hosted a “Spirit of Wipro” Run for employees, customers, partners, and their families. The event included a 10K, 5K, and 1K fun run for kids, music, games, and an employee-driven fundraiser for First Book to allocate additional resources to the Mountain View and East Palo Alto community.

“Wipro is committed to playing a role in enhancing access to books for children in the communities in which we operate,” said Anurag Behar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Wipro Limited. “Our Mountain View-based employees are honored to support students’ educational journey throughout the coming school year.”

Since 2015, Wipro and First Book have partnered together to distribute over 118,000 books throughout the U.S. and Canada, with a goal of distributing over 200,000 books to children in need, as part of their three-year partnership.

Book ownership and a print-rich environment are leading indicators of a child’s educational success, but for the 32 million children growing up in low-income families in the U.S. alone, books are scarce. A recent study found that in one low-income neighborhood, there was only one book for more than 800 children, whereas in moderate income neighborhoods, there are 13 books for every one child.¹

First Book, which has operations in both the U.S. and Canada, works with formal and informal educators serving children in need aged between 0-18 years in a wide range of settings – from schools, classrooms, summer school and parks and recreational programs, to health clinics, homeless shelters, faith-based programs, libraries, museums, summer food sites and more. The organization supports more than one in four of the 1.3 million classrooms and programs that are serving children in need in the U.S. alone.

“Access to books deeply affects a child’s ability to learn, and we are grateful that Wipro and its employees in East Palo Alto and across the nation continue to support their local communities by spreading First Book’s mission of bringing the transformative power of books to children in need,” said Kyle Zimmer, president and CEO of First Book. “With the support and dedication of Wipro employees, tens of thousands of children can enjoy the power of reading and unlock their future.”

Reference
1 Susan Neuman, July 2016

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About First Book
First Book transforms the lives of children in need. Through a sustainable, market-driven model, First Book is creating equal access to quality education — making everything from brand-new, high-quality books and educational resources to sports equipment and snacks affordable to its member network of more than 325,000 educators who exclusively serve kids in need. Since 1992, First Book has distributed more than 170 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families in more than 30 countries. First Book currently reaches an average of 3 million children every year and supports more than one in four of the estimated 1.3 million educators serving children in need. With an additional 1,000 educators joining each week, First Book is the largest and fastest-growing network of educators in the United States exclusively serving kids in need. Eligible educators, librarians, providers, and others serving children in need can sign up at firstbook.org/register. For more information, please visit firstbook.org or follow the latest news on Facebook and Twitter.

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 160,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

Media Contacts:

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Prathibha Das
Wipro Limited
prathibha.das@wipro.com

Brent Curry
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
brent.curry@hkstrategies.com
(o) 312-255-3086

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