PIMCO Visits THINK Together in Santa Ana

A PIMCO executive shares a fun tutoring moment with a THINK Together student

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THINK Together, California’s fastest-growing extended-learning program, recently partnered with PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, to invest in the most precious commodity of all: children.

As participants in THINK Together’s “Royal Reader” program, PIMCO assigned more than 160 investment professionals to four elementary schools in Santa Ana to read to first-through-third-graders, and then presented the books they read to the children.

                   

“Our mission to provide extended learning academic enrichment to children in a fun and safe environment wouldn’t be possible without partnerships with esteemed companies like PIMCO,” said Randy Barth, Founder and CEO of THINK Together.   “We were thrilled to team up with PIMCO for this special afternoon, which is certain to be of great benefit to our students.”

                   

The PIMCO executives are part of the Newport Beach-based firm’s PIMCO Partners, an employee volunteer and community outreach program that since 2007 has logged more than 15,000 hours of donated time.

 

“Central to PIMCO’s mission is our firm’s commitment to investing in the future of the communities in which we live and work, and that starts with making sure our children are getting the best education possible,” said Jon Short, PIMCO managing director and head of PIMCO’s Global Wealth Management unit, which serves individual investors through financial intermediaries.

“THINK Together has shown how crucial it is to provide high-quality extended learning education programs, especially in disadvantaged communities,” Short said.

Each of the 160-plus PIMCO volunteers in the Royal Reader program were paired with students and more than 600 students participated across the four schools for about 30 minutes. The program was designed to have an adult share a good book with a child, then discuss the book  before giving the book to the child for his or her own library. 

The books were a gift from The PIMCO Foundation, the firm’s philanthropic arm that provides monetary contributions to non-profit organizations in Orange County and around the world. A key part of the program was getting each child to tap into his or her experiences to discuss the stories, and to make the reading experience as interactive as possible.

“It was wonderful to see our students and our PIMCO guests enjoy reading together across all four schools.  We are so grateful that PIMCO has chosen to invest in the future of the children in Santa Ana by spending time reading to them and then supporting that investment by sending a book home with every child,” said THINK Together’s Orange County Region General Manager, Tia Dwyer. 

The Royal Reader program was held at Diamond, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Walker elementary schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District.