Foresters, KaBOOM! & Volunteers Revitalize Houston Community with New Playground

Playground to enhance family well-being

HOUSTON, May 19, 2012 /CNW/ - A dream is now a reality for children in the Aldine neighborhood of Houston as their drawings were turned into a new playground today. In less than eight hours, the play space was built with the help of more than 200 volunteers from Foresters^TM, the Greenridge Townhouse Homeowners Association and non-profit KaBOOM!. The new playground will serve 8,800 children and their families in the community for years to come.

"Foresters believes in providing opportunities for families to spend quality time together," said Bob Pashby, 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 March 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.

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.

"Greenridge Townhouses is a wonderful community, but before today, we did not have a place for all of our children to play," said Ana Ramos, Greenridge Townhouses Homeowners Association Secretary. "Thanks to Foresters and KaBOOM!, we now have a place for families to spend time together so that they can be active and lead healthy lifestyles."

Thanks to the work of Foresters, the Greenridge Townhouse Homeowners Association and KaBOOM!, children and their families now have a 2,392 square-foot playground to call home that includes features such as a Triple Racer Slide, Swing Sets and a Vine Climber.

About Greenridge Townhouse Homeowners Association
The Greenridge Townhomes community is a family complex, with most of the residents being young families with children.  Children at Greenridge do not have a set place to play after school and during the summer break and many are limited to playing in the carports and driveways.  As the safety and happiness of our children is very important to Greenridge Townhomes Association, we are thankful to Foresters and KaBOOM! for helping in revitalizing our community.

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 almost 950,000 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.

About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to saving play. 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. To fight this play deficit, 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. Since then, KaBOOM! has mapped over 89,000 places to play, built more than 2,000 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!: How One Man Built a Movement to Save Play. 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 offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

Ana Ramos, Greenridge Townhouse Homeowners Association, 281-445-2110, [email protected]
Ryan Jones, Foresters, 1-800-461-8431 x4096, [email protected]
Mike Vietti, KaBOOM!, 785-320-2137, [email protected]