Hundreds of volunteers rebuild Toronto Community Housing outdoor spaces in
one day

TORONTO, Oct. 22 /CNW/ - A sea of orange is surrounding 3847 Lawrence Ave. East today as more than 500 ING DIRECT employees have gathered to revitalize the outdoor spaces around the east-end Toronto Community Housing high-rise.  The community build, organized by Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds, will draw on more than 5,000 ING DIRECT volunteer hours to transform the area into a community hub for local residents.

"It means a great deal for our company to give back to our community, beautify our neighbourhoods and make them safer for families," said Peter Aceto, President and Chief Executive Officer of ING DIRECT Canada. "Revitalizing this space and giving our employees a chance to engage with the community on a large scale project like this is both practical and rewarding. We hope that the results of our hard work help this community to flourish."

ING DIRECT employees clad in their signature orange, with the help of local residents, will create two natural playgrounds, revitalize an existing playground, establish a community garden, community park and a soccer pitch and repair a basketball court - all in one day. The building is home to 800 people, while the outdoor spaces attract over 1,000 people from the wider community.

"We are pleased to be welcomed into this community to create a space where children and adults alike can reconnect with nature and form deeper bonds with one another," said Bruce Sudds of Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds. "This project will truly transform the local neighbourhood and I applaud ING DIRECT staff and Toronto Community Housing for being dedicated to creating healthy and safe communities."

"Toronto Community Housing's vision is to contribute to a city where residents are proud of the place where they live, and where people feel connected to each other and their community," said Mitzie Hunter, Chief Administrative Officer of Toronto Community Housing.  "Thanks to this project, residents will have places to gather, interact and build the relationships that define communities and make them flourish."

3874 Lawrence Ave. East is the third location to receive funding and in-kind donations from ING DIRECT Canada for new, natural playgrounds and revitalized public spaces in the past year. On each project, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds have designed the new spaces and organized the community builds. In 2009, ING DIRECT helped to build Toronto's first natural playground at McCleary Park in downtown Toronto.

About ING DIRECT
ING DIRECT is Canada's leading DIRECT bank with over 1.7 million Clients and more than $29 billion in total assets. ING DIRECT gives the power of saving to all Canadians by offering high-value, simple products such as high interest savings accounts with no fees or service charges, and low rates on mortgages. Low cost, index based mutual funds are sold through ING DIRECT Funds Limited. ING DIRECT has been operating in Canada since 1997 and has paid more than $4.5 billion in interest to Clients. ING DIRECT is open for banking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at ingdirect.ca, on mobile devices at m.ingdirect.ca or by calling 1-800 ING DIRECT (1-800-464-3473)

Follow Peter Aceto on Twitter at: Twitter.com/CEO_INGDIRECT
And find ING DIRECT at: Facebook.com/SuperStarSaver; Twitter.com/SuperStarSaver; YouTube.com/SuperStarSaver

About Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds engages communities to re-imagine and rebuild their public space through better designs, partnerships, and programs that connect their children and adults to nature. The parks and playgrounds we create reflect the natural heritage of the site and the needs of the community through a collaborative and inclusive design process, a skilled team of installers and well orchestrated community builds. Rolling hills, curling pathways, and giant logs and boulders and trees define spaces filled with art, music, and nature. These are playgrounds without barriers where children and families are encouraged to explore their imagination and this is the place in our community where we form four critical bonds with nature and each other. Projects can be found in public parks and at schools and child care centres across Canada and the USA. For more information, please visit www.naturalplaygrounds.ca.

About Toronto Community Housing
Toronto Community Housing (www.torontohousing.ca) is Canada's largest social housing provider and home to more than 164,000 tenants with low and moderate incomes-about six per cent of the City of Toronto's population. Toronto Community Housing employs 1,400 staff in a broad range of jobs, who deliver its mission to provide affordable housing, connect tenants to services and opportunities, and work together to build healthy communities.

For further information:

Lynnette Visaya, ING DIRECT
416-509-4574
[email protected]

Bruce Sudds, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
416-931-3643
[email protected]

Kyle Rooks, Toronto Community Housing
416-688-8277
[email protected]