Foresters, KaBOOM! & Volunteers Revitalize Chula Vista Community with New Playground

Playground to enhance family well-being

CHULA VISTA, CA, Aug. 3, 2013 /CNW/ - A dream is now a reality for children in Chula Vista as their drawings were turned into a new playground today. In less than eight hours, the play space was built at Hilltop Park with the help of more than 200 volunteers from Foresters^TM, the City of Chula Vista, the Turning the Hearts Center and non-profit KaBOOM!. The new playground will eventually serve more than 72,00 children and their families in the community for years to come.

"Foresters believes in providing opportunities for families to spend quality time together," said Bruce Burak, Foresters National Sales Manager. "A playground is an important piece for the revitalization of a community. Not only does it provide a first step towards keeping children healthy, but it's a safe, central location for the entire neighborhood to get together."

Planning for the playground began at a Design Day event held in June when local children and community leaders met with organizers from KaBOOM! and Foresters to design their dream playground. The children's drawings were then used to create the final playground design.

"We are thrilled that KaBOOM! is partnering with Chula Vista to renovate Hilltop Park - one of our oldest neighborhood parks," said City of Chula Vista Deputy Mayor Pamela Bensoussan. "We thank KaBOOM! and Foresters for their investment in Chula Vista, a recently designated Playful City USA community. We also thank Turning the Hearts Center for helping to create the vision for the new playground."

Since 2006, Foresters has invested over $7 million with KaBOOM! with almost 100 playgrounds built or planned across the U.S. and Canada. Over their 15 year lifespan, these playgrounds will provide more than 2.6 million children and their families with an opportunity to spend quality time together. Foresters is a KaBOOM! National Partner and a founding member of the KaBOOM! Leadership Circle - a group of organizations providing long-term guidance and support to KaBOOM! and its mission.

"Turning the Hearts Center is committed to turning the hearts of youth and families in our community," said Turning the Hearts Center Executive Director Doug Luffborough. "We are elated to work in collaboration with the City of Chula Vista, Foresters and KaBOOM! to give the children and families in our community a state-of-the-art playground built by the community and for the community. We have experience promoting community partnerships through service and this project exemplifies true collaborative partnerships at its best. The families that live near the park will have a safe place to play, relax and enjoy family time together - something we all need."

Thanks to the work of Foresters, the City of Chula Vista, the Turning the Hearts Center and KaBOOM!, children and their families now have a 4,500 square-foot playground to call home that includes features such as a Triple Racer Slide, Rockblocks Climbing Wall and Scavenger Hunt.

A passionate advocate for family well-being, Foresters recently launched the Tech Timeout™ challenge, which encourages families to take a pledge to turn off all electronic devices for an hour a day for one week.  For more details, visit techtimeout.com.

About the City of Chula Vista
The City of Chula Vista is located at the center of one of the richest cultural, economic and environmentally diverse zones in the United States. It is the second-largest City in San Diego County with a population of nearly 250,000. Chula Vista boasts more than 50 square miles of coastal landscape, canyons, rolling hills, mountains, and a variety of natural resources and quality infrastructure. Established neighborhoods, contemporary communities, start-up firms, corporations, nationally recognized entertainment venues, the nation's only warm weather Olympic Training Center, an award winning nature center and a historic downtown all contribute to Chula Vista's attraction for both families and businesses.

About the Turning the Hearts Center
As the result of a community need and public outcry, Turning the Hearts Center (TTHC) opened its doors in March 2001 with a mission to turn the hearts of youth and families through education, leadership development and family enhancement services. TTHC is a community-based nonprofit organization that is a leader in youth and adult empowerment groups inspired by first hand experiences and nonprofit empirical research. Today we provide over 16 youth and adult empowerment groups that support over 11,000 residents of San Diego County.

About Foresters
Foresters™ is a life insurance provider with a difference.  The fraternal benefit society, founded in 1874, supports family well-being through quality products, unique member benefits and inspiring community activities. Foresters shares its financial strength with over one million members in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.  For more information, visit foresters.com.

Foresters™ is the trade name and a trademark of The Independent Order of Foresters, a fraternal benefit society, 789 Don Mills Road, Toronto, Canada M3C 1T9; its subsidiaries are licensed to use this mark.

Tech Timeout and the Tech Timeout logo are trademarks of The Independent Order of Foresters

About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving kids the childhood they deserve by bringing play to those who need it most. Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation, a fact that is having disastrous consequences on their health, achievement levels, and overall well-being. Social entrepreneur Darell Hammond founded non-profit KaBOOM! in 1996 in Washington, D.C. with a vision of creating a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America because children need to play actively every day at home, in school and in their communities. Since then, KaBOOM! has mapped over 90,000 places to play, built more than 2,300 playgrounds, and successfully advocated for play policies in hundreds of cities across the country. KaBOOM! also provides communities with online tools to self-organize and take action to support play on both a local and national level. Hammond chronicles the founding of the organization and the importance of the cause of play in his The New York Times Best Seller KaBOOM!: A Movement to Save Play, now out in paperback. The book details how businesses and communities can work together to save play for children across the country. All author proceeds support KaBOOM!. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has an office in San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

SOURCE: Foresters

Anne Steinberger, City of Chula Vista, 619-691-5296, [email protected]
Doug Luffborough, Turning the Hearts Center, 619-691-9643, [email protected]
Maria Ganogiannis, Foresters, 800-461-8431, ext. 4096, [email protected]
Mike Vietti, KaBOOM!, 785-320-2137, [email protected]