Canucks suit up for literacy
Players came out to help raise money, support reading
While young Zack Kassian was all about becoming a hockey player, his mother had other ideas, too. Like picking up a book and reading it.
“My mom stressed reading a lot,” the Vancouver Canuck winger said Wednesday as he participated in The Vancouver Sun’s Raise- A- Reader Day, the program to promote literacy. “It’s very important. As a kid, it’s definitely important to have that in your upbringing. It’s something that a kid needs to do at a young age.”
Kassian grew up in Windsor, Ont., and was a fan of sports books, action thrillers and the Arthur series written by Marc Brown.
“I wasn’t a big person to pick up a book and read it in my spare time but, as you get older, you kind of start to do that, especially with the long trips and whatnot we have in hockey,” he said.
Kassian, currently suspended by the NHL for a reckless high stick that broke the jaw of Edmonton Oiler Sam Gagner, attracted a crowd at the downtown corner of Georgia and Hornby. In between handing out The Vancouver Sun and collecting Raise- A- Reader donations, he posed for photos with fans and signed autographs, one for a man who jumped out of a truck stopped at a red light.
“I never sold papers as a kid,” Kassian said. “It’s fun, though.”
Fellow Canuck David Booth attracted a similar crowd in front of the Burrard Street SkyTrain station.
“I think we take reading for granted sometimes,” said Booth, a Detroit native. “It’s just part of our culture but so many times it’s not part of other people’s. So to be able to do something like this through the whole community is awesome. It’s cool being out here on the streets raising money for this cause.”
Booth recalled, as a youngster, reading the Goosebumps series written by R. L. Stine.
“It’s funny, when I was little I didn’t necessarily read a lot but now I do,” he said.
“I enjoy reading now because of the foundation I set as a kid. I like biographies and nonfiction.”
Canuck assistant coach Darryl Williams was also out and about in the downtown core Wednesday morning, despite arriving back in Vancouver at 2 a. m. following the team’s 5- 0 preseason loss in San Jose, Calif. He has two children, a 15- yearold daughter and nine- year- old son, and they have library cards both at their home in Newfoundland and in Vancouver for when they’re visiting dad.
“Literacy is so important and it’s not just something for young kids, it’s for adults, too,” said Williams. “There are a lot of people out there who will benefit from what the RaiseA- Reader Foundation is doing today. Reading was definitely stressed to me by my parents. They read to me all the time and that’s something we do with our kids now. My favourite books growing up were the Hardy Boy mysteries and those type of books.”
Vancouver Canadians president Andy Dunn was also out on the downtown streets participating in what he called one of the “fun days” of the year.
“I don’t know if there is any more important life skill than having the ability to read,” said Dunn, an American born in Georgia and raised in Florida.
“Reading is a day- to- day necessity. You use it throughout your life and, by reading, it opens you up to so many things you can learn, whether it’s fiction, non- fiction or biographies. Without knowing how to read, I think you’re going to have challenges in life.”