Thirty Local Children Complete Books for Bikes Challenge with Customers Bank and Ready.Set.READ!

WYOMISSING, PA. (August 20, 2019) – Thirty local students are the proud owners of brand-new bikes and helmets today thanks to Customers Bank, the United Way of Berks County, and the Ready.Set.READ! program.

For the fourth year in a row, Customers Bank sponsored the Books for Bikes challenge, which provides a free bike and helmet to each child who completes 30 of the 40 days, or at least 75 percent, of the Ready.Set.READ! literacy and reading program. Customers Bank presented the bikes and helmets today at the Berks Community Health Center Oakbrook, at 1040 Liggett Avenue, Reading, PA, 19611.

“Education and community service are two fundamental priorities for Customers Bank, and we are proud of all the children’s dedication to learning and accomplishments. Providing new bikes and helmets is an excellent way to show young students that reading comes with rewards,” said Richard Ehst, President and Chief Operating Officer of Customers Bank. “We also want to say a special thanks to Mary Jimenez of the United Way of Berks County for her work with the Ready.Set.READ! program. It is equally important to thank all the parents, guardians, families and volunteers who helped make summer learning a priority for these children. These students will be our future community leaders, and it is important that we come together as a community to help ensure they have a solid educational foundation.”

Ready.Set.READ! is a community-wide initiative of the United Way to improve early grade reading success. The program is designed to support students who are struggling to be proficient readers by securing the involvement of schools, businesses, organizations and volunteers. The initiative also focuses on language and pre-literacy development in younger children. The Books for Bikes program is designed with the main objective of reducing “summer slide,” which occurs when students – especially those in lesser-served neighborhoods – lose up to two and half months’ worth of academic skills during the summer months.

This year’s program ran from June through mid-August and was held in the Berks County Intermediate Unit (BCIU) Head Start classrooms in the Oakbrook Housing Community. The program offered hands-on reading and literacy instruction, as well as access to fun and engaging activities including yoga with Building 7 Yoga; STEM activities with the Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts BSA; STEAM activities conducted by the Reading Public Library; and instruction in literary-inspired drama, dance, painting, and drawing through Barrio Alegria.

Organizations that participated in this year’s Books for Bikes program include the United Way, Reading School District, Reading Housing Authority and Berks Community Health Center. Backpacks and school supplies were also presented to the students by Reading Truck Group.

To learn more about Customers Bank, please visit www.customersbank.com.

About Customers Bank
Customers Bank is a super-community bank with $11.2 billion in assets as of June 30, 2019, offering commercial and consumer banking services along the I-95 corridor from Washington, DC to Boston; and in Chicago. Commercial products include cash management; commercial and industrial loans; small business loans; SBA government-guaranteed loans; commercial and multi-family real estate loans; and financing for leasing businesses and residential developers.

Customers Bank provides consumer banking services including savings, checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; residential mortgages; and consumer loans. Additional consumer products include “BankMobile Vibe online banking,” marketed by the BankMobile Division and “Ascent Money Market Savings,” marketed by the Customers Bank Digital Banking Division.

Customers Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Customers Bank is an equal opportunity lender. Customers Bank takes pride in delivering extremely high levels of customer service while charging comparatively very low fees; service that makes our clients say, “Wow.”

Commercial clients enjoy Single Point of Contact service with one team to handle all banking needs. Retail bank clients are afforded Concierge Banking® Services that brings banking to them, when and where they need it.

Customers Bank, with its headquarters located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, is a subsidiary of Customers Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company. The voting common shares of Customers Bancorp, Inc. are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CUBI.