World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.(WWE) and Comcast California today announced the two California winners of the companies’ WWE Community Champion Contest that recognizes young people for making positive contributions to their community. Ruben Duarte of E.V. Cain Middle School in Auburn, CA and D’Antay Freeman of John Muir Middle School in San Leandro, CA were named the contest winners.
Ruben and D’Antay will be recognized in Fresno, CA on Friday, February 15th at 2:30 p.m. The announcement will take place right before an autograph signing session with WWE Superstar Mr. Kennedy™ that precedes the live event, WWE RAW Road to WrestleMania Tour, at Fresno’s Save Mart Center.
The “Community Champion” contest accepted nominations for individuals between the ages of 10 to 17 who have made a significant difference in their community or have overcome significant personal adversity. Each winner and a parent or legal guardian, along with winners from other communities across the country, will be flown to Orlando, Florida in March to attend WrestleMania XXIV and be individually honored at WWE’s annual “Bacon, Bagels and Biceps Breakfast.”
“WWE is a worldwide brand that thrives in local communities—we are in cities and towns across the United States more than 300 times a year. WWE Community Champion is a great opportunity for WWE to work with cable affiliates that so fervently support our programming and products,’ said Peter Clifford, SVP, Affiliate Sales, Distribution & Marketing. ‘WWE has long running programs which promote literacy, education, voting and other important issues — WWE Community Champion is another step in that tradition.”
Ruben Duarte is a sixth grader at Cain Middle School in Auburn, CA. Praised by his teachers as an example to his peers, Ruben has overcome great adversity at home after losing a parent. Never one to give up, Ruben recently placed first in his school’s food drive competition, and was an obvious choice for Community Champion after being nominated by his teachers, neighbors and grandmother.
D’Antay Freedman lives in Oakland, CA and is currently a sixth grader and member of the Oakland Boys and Girls Club, where he’s known for his positive, can-do attitude, as well as his ability to settle disputes between his peers. D’Antay is a huge WWE fan, and says he uses WWE programming as an example of how to persevere in tough situations.
To learn more about the Community Champion partnership go to wwe.com.
About Comcast
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (http://www.comcast.com) is the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 24.1 million cable customers, 12.4 million high-speed Internet customers, and 3.5 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.
Comcast's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, AZN Television, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, Comcast SportsNet and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast's Internet business. Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.
About WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment has been making community relations a priority since the company began in 1982, and has been widely recognized for its efforts. The Make-A-Wish Foundation has awarded WWE, WWE employees and WWE Superstars with its Chris Greicius Award on three separate occasions. In addition, WWE received the USO “Legacy of Hope” award in 2004 as well as the United States Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award in 2006.