Foresters, KaBOOM! and community come together to build a new Duncanville playground - in just one day

DUNCANVILLE, TX, Sept. 29, 2012 /CNW/ - It took 200 volunteers just over six hours to transform an empty patch of grass into a beautiful new playground at Waterview Park today. The colorful 3,000 square-foot play space - which includes features such as arch belt swings, a slither slide and five different climbing apparatus - will serve 7,500 children and their families in the community for years to come. Today's build was the final step in a two-month planning process that started at a Design Day in July when local children and community leaders met with organizers from KaBOOM! and Foresters^TM to create their dream playground. The children's drawings were then used to create the final playground design.

"Foresters believes in providing opportunities for families to spend quality time together," said Kasia Czarski, Foresters Senior Vice President, Chief Membership and Marketing Officer. "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."

Volunteers from Foresters, the City of Duncanville, the Duncanville ISD Education Foundation and non-profit KaBOOM! gathered at the site at 8:30 a.m. After an inspirational kick-off ceremony, they formed teams and worked together to pour cement, move safety surfacing and assemble equipment with direction from KaBOOM!. By noon, the outline of a playground started to take shape and by 3 p.m., it was complete.

"The City is extremely grateful to have been selected as a partner in this project," said Duncanville City Manager Dan O'Leary. "This community-built playground means a great deal to our city as it served as an opportunity to bring the community together to install a much-needed safe play place for the children of Duncanville."

"The sole purpose of the Education Foundation is to support Duncanville ISD and its students. Waterview Park is a shining example of supporting a creative and innovative project that will directly benefit not only our students but the entire community," said Foundation Board President Earle Jones. "Waterview Park provides a wonderful place for families to gather and play, while affording Brandenburg Intermediate an enhanced outdoor learning space."

Since 2006, Foresters has invested over $7 million with KaBOOM! with almost 100 playgrounds built or planned across the US 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.

About the City of Duncanville
Situated just minutes from both downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth, Duncanville, Texas offers the repose of a small town while maintaining vital access to major sporting venues, shopping destinations and restaurants.  With a population of approximately 36,081, and a reputation for excellence in both education and athletics, Duncanville is committed to recruiting top businesses to provide first-rate services with a sense of warm, friendly community atmosphere. Quality families are the cornerstones of this inviting city. As a result, traditional family values permeate the community creating a safe and inviting place to start a family and a business.

About the Duncanville ISD Education Foundation
Founded in 1996, the Duncanville Independent School District Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The school district and the community work as partners to seek alternative sources of revenue to fund teacher-created learning projects for students that result in increased student achievement. Funds for programs and projects are supplied outside of the regular school district budget through a grant application process. Through nine grant cycles, the Education Foundation has awarded over $826,000 to Duncanville ISD teachers to date. The volunteer Board of Directors is dedicated to ensuring that the students of Duncanville ISD continue to receive the best educational opportunities possible.

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 90,000 places to play, built more than 2,100 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 offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

SOURCE: Foresters

Claudia Garibay, City of Duncanville, 972-780-5043, [email protected]
Eliana Cugini, Foresters, 416-429-3000 x4763, cell 416-301-8849,
toll free number 800-461-8431 ext. 4763, [email protected]
Mike Vietti, KaBOOM!, 785-320-2137, [email protected]