Service King Collision Repair Centers Provides High Tech Graphing Calculators to KIPP DFW TRUTH Academy 8th Grade Math and Science Students with Funding from CBS EcoMedia’s EducationAd Advertising

Dallas, TX., October 18, 2012 /3BL Media/ - Eighth grade math and science students at KIPP DFW TRUTH Academy in Dallas will no longer have to share high tech calculators or go without the aid of the essential educational technology thanks to Service King Collision Repair Center’s distribution of TI-84 graphing calculators to the college preparatory middle school.  The funding for the calculators comes from Service King’s advertising through CBS EcoMedia’s EducationAd program.

By supplying calculators to give each eighth grade student access during class, Service King Collision Repair’s funding ensures students will not fall behind their peers at other schools due to lack of equal access to supplies and technology.  The addition of the new calculators is expected to have an immediate and long-lasting impact for all of the eighth grade students at KIPP DFW TRUTH Academy.  Additional funding from Service King will be used to purchase digital books to be downloaded on Amazon Kindles (provided by the school through a grant from the Jiv Daya Foundation).

To commemorate the addition of the new graphic calculators and the digital book downloads Eric Kirk, Communications Manager of Service King Collision Repair Centers, April Allen the Executive Director of KIPP Dallas-Fort Worth and Paul Polizzotto, the President and Founder, CBS EcoMedia Inc. will host an exclusive tour of KIPP DFW Truth Academy School in Dallas to meet the students and staff and learn more about the facility and its curriculum.

“Service King is honored to be able to contribute to such a vital cause through our EducationAd with CBS EcoMedia,” said Eric Kirk, Service King’s Communications Manager.  “Today’s students need all the tools and technology available to be able to be competitive in math and science and we’re excited to be able to help provide that for the underserved students at KIPP TRUTH Academy right here in our own Dallas/Fort Worth community.”

“Our mission at KIPP Dallas-Fort Worth is to provide children in underserved communities with a free, rigorous, high quality education that offers the knowledge, skills and character traits necessary to thrive in school, college and the competitive world beyond,” said April Allen the Executive Director of KIPP Dallas-Fort Worth. “Thanks to Service King Collision Repair and their generous contribution of these graphing calculators and digital book downloads through CBS EcoMedia, our students now have access to state of the art learning tools that complement our science, math, and literacy initiatives.

With Service King’s additional funding for approximately sixty digital downloads, KIPP DFW TRUTH Academy students will now have instant access to new literacy materials on Amazon Kindles. Unlike traditional books, students will have immediate access to books in a digital format that offers literacy and reading comprehension tools like notes, annotations, dictionaries, and language translations.

“Being able to make these kinds of serious educational improvements is the reason that we created the EducationAd program,” says Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of CBS EcoMedia Inc.  “The difference these digital downloads and graphing calculators will make for the 350 students of KIPP TRUTH Academy will have positive impacts for many years moving forward.  We’re grateful that our advertising partner Service King Collision Repair cares so much about this community and the future of these students and is willing to be part of our unique public-private partnership paradigm.  Working together with enlightened advertisers like Service King and our non-profit partners we’re making tangible, meaningful quality of life improvements in communities all across America.”

About KIPP DFW

The mission of KIPP DFW is to provide children in underserved communities with a free, rigorous, high quality education that offers the knowledge, skills, and character traits necessary to thrive in school, college, and the competitive world beyond.

KIPP DFW envisions that it will have a transformational impact on the city of Dallas. It will prove the possible to city leaders and education entities setting an example of excellence which can be emulated in other public school districts. Perhaps most importantly, KIPP DFW students will serve as role models to their families and communities. Our college graduates will return to their communities demonstrating the impact that education has had on their own lives and working to raise the standards and opportunities for growth.

KIPP DFW is part of the nationally renowned “Knowledge is Power Program.” There are currently 125 KIPP schools across 20 states and the District of Columbia serving more than 39,000 students. Founded in 2003, TRUTH Academy became the first school in the KIPP DFW region.

About Service King Collision Repair Centers

Service King Collision Repair Centers was founded in Dallas, Texas in 1976 when Eddie Lennox purchased an existing body shop in a small tin shack complete with a hand painted sign that read, “Service King.” Eddie’s good reputation, hard work and key insurance relationships helped him to grow his customer base quickly and over the next 25 years Service King became the largest employee-owned paint and body operation in the country.

In 2010, Eddie appointed Cathy Bonner as the company’s new President. Since then, Cathy has moved into the CEO position, while Eddie continues as Owner and Chairman of the Board for Service King.

Today, Service King employs over 1500 hundred employees and has 59 locations, 23 in Dallas/Ft Worth, 12 Houston, 6 Austin, 8 Phoenix and 9 in San Antonio, Texas. We offer a lifetime warranty on all collision repairs since 1976, and have made the repair process convenient with on-site rental cars and working directly with insurance companies.

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.

At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002.  In 2008, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media.

Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide.  In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change.  Please visit ecomedia.cbs.com to learn more. 

By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities.  EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.