Foresters, KaBOOM! and volunteers bring families together with new playground at Savio House

Playground will enhance family and community well-being

DENVER, CO, July 19, 2014 /CNW/ - The Denver community was revitalized today thanks to a new playground built at Savio House. In less than eight hours, more than 200 volunteers from Foresters™, Savio House and non-profit KaBOOM! created the new play space, which will serve more than 15,000 children and their families in the local community for years to come.

A community's well-being starts with a child's well-being," said Kasia Czarski, senior vice president, chief membership and marketing officer, Foresters. "Playgrounds are important to communities, providing an open space where children can play safely. We believe that an investment in a playground is an investment in family well-being, and we are happy to provide the Denver community with a place that families can enjoy for years to come.

The design for the new playground is based on drawings created by neighborhood children at a special Design Day event held in May when community members met with organizers from KaBOOM! and Foresters to design their dream playground. The drawings inspired the final playground design.

Since 2006, Foresters, an international financial services provider, has invested over $10 million with KaBOOM! to build almost 120 playgrounds across the US and Canada by the end of 2015. Over their 15 year lifespan, these playgrounds will provide more than 3 million children and their families with an opportunity to spend quality time together and enhance family well-being.

"This playground will fill a major gap in Savio's services to small children," stated William Hildenbrand, executive director of Savio House. "Play is an important part in their healing and overcoming trauma. The playground will assist in rebuilding families where children can grow into healthy adults."

Another way Foresters advocates for family well-being is through its Tech Timeout™ challenge, which encourages families to take a pledge to turn off all electronic devices for an hour a day for one week and spend quality time together.  For more details, visit techtimeout.com.

Foresters is a founding member of the KaBOOM! Leadership Circle - a group of organizations providing long-term guidance and support to KaBOOM! and its mission. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has been dedicated to the bold goal of ensuring that all children get the balance of active play they need to become healthy and successful adults because #playmatters.

Savio House
Savio House believes in keeping children and families together, even when they are struggling with very serious problems like drug abuse, delinquency, child abuse and neglect. Every day we intervene with families in crisis because, with our help, children and families avoid being torn apart and instead learn how to live safe, healthy and happy lives. Savio House was established in 1966 as an orphanage and now provides services to families in their homes (community based services), foster homes, education, day treatment and short-term residential care.  The Lions Club of Denver provides board leadership to the agency. Savio House is known as an agency that provides creative services to families in need and continuously evaluates its efforts to improve them.

Foresters
For 140 years, Foresters™, an international financial services provider, has fulfilled its purpose to enhance family well-being for its members and the communities where they live.   A fraternal benefit society, Foresters offers quality life insurance and investment products, unique member benefits and inspiring community activities. Foresters shares its financial strength with more than one million members in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.  For more information, visit foresters.com, facebook.com/foresters and techtimeout.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.

KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to the bold new goal of ensuring that all children, particularly the 16 million American children living in poverty, get the balance of active play they need to become healthy and successful adults. KaBOOM! has been a powerful champion for play since its founding in 1996, working with partners to build, improve and open more than 15,000 playgrounds, engage more than 1,000,000 volunteers and serve more than 6,600,000 children. KaBOOM! creates and catalyzes great places to play, inspires, empowers and leads play advocates, and educates and elevates the societal conversation about the importance of play in children's lives. For more information, visit kaboom.org/act or follow the conversation on why #playmatters at twitter.com/kaboom or facebook.com/kaboom.

SOURCE: Foresters

Savio House: Bill Hildenbrand, 303-225-4014, [email protected]
Foresters: Maria Ganogiannis, 800-461-8431, ext. 4096, [email protected]
KaBOOM!: Kristine Austria, 202-746-8797, [email protected]