St. Louis Blues Sponsor Elementary School Reading Program

Entrepreneur Jay Flieg performs executive and administrative tasks for six retail franchises in the St. Louis area. In his spare time, Jay Flieg supports professional teams, such as the St. Louis Blues hockey club. The Blues have put into place several community improvement efforts. One of the most important of these is the Blues Bookworms, which promotes literacy for children K-6 in all schools.

The program runs from October through January. Participating students record how many minutes they read, and teachers total each reader's minutes and post the results online using Classroom Tracker software. All classes reporting minutes receive a free poster and bookmarks for each student.

Students whose minutes add up to 1,000 or more win buy-one-get-one-free tickets for a special Blues Bookworm night. They appear on the Scottrade Arena scoreboard and get to try their hockey skills with a shoot-on-goal. Students who can not make the game can attend a backup game, but with no shoot-on-goal.

Top readers from each grade level overall receive four Plaza Level tickets for Bookworm Night and show up on the scoreboard TV while the game is in progress. Classes that achieve 250 minutes per pupil per month enter a drawing to receive a visit from a Blues player. Other classrooms in the school who meet the monthly total are also included in the event.

Volunteer Opportunities at Rebuilding St. Louis

Jay Flieg received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Lindenwood University in St. Louis, Missouri, and has nearly two decades of operations management experience. During his free time, Jay Flieg serves as a house captain at non-profit charity Rebuilding Together St. Louis.

Rebuilding Together St. Louis is a national non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing aid to thousands of homeowners year-round. Since its inception in 1988, the organization has revitalized over 10,000 houses and added around $1.3 billion in value to served communities. This project is held together by its volunteers, whose numbers reach around 200,000 every year.

There are many ways for individuals to take part in the organization's activities. For skilled or experienced volunteers, available roles include house captain, volunteer coordinator, or duties on the logistics team during rebuilding day. Those who cannot join rebuilding day, moreover, can still benefit the cause in several ways: available roles that can be filled in throughout the year include office volunteers, home modification analysts, home evaluators, and public relations, among others.