Playground to enhance family well-being

SAN ANTONIO, TX, Nov. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - A dream is now a reality for children in San Antonio as their drawings were turned into a new playground today. In less than eight hours, the play space was built at SA Youth's Petaluma Blvd. site with the help of more than 200 volunteers from Foresters^TM, SA Youth and non-profit KaBOOM!. The new playground will serve thousands of youth and their families in the community for years to come.

"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."

Planning for the playground began at a Design Day event held in September 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.

"Today's children are only spending about 30 minutes of unstructured play time outdoors each week. In the inner-city, our children have even less outdoor experiences, many times because there's no safe place for them to play outside in their neighborhood," Cynthia Le Monds, CEO of SA Youth, said. "Thanks to Foresters and KaBOOM!, hundreds of South Side children and families will have a state-of-the art playground where kids can just be kids at one of SA Youth's community youth centers. SA Youth is extremely grateful to the many people who are making it possible for our kids to 'play again' and shape memories for years to come."

Thanks to the work of Foresters, SA Youth and KaBOOM!, children and their families now have a 2,500 square-foot playground to call home that includes features such as a 360 Degree Spiral Slide, Rockblocks Climbing Wall and a Helix Climber.

About SA Youth
SA Youth is a community organization that keeps at-risk children and youth off the streets and in school through its out-of-school time programs, and offers young adults a second chance in life by providing them with an opportunity to earn a high school diploma or GED while receiving workforce training in construction, technology or the green jobs sector. For more information, www.sanantonioyouth.org

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.

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 Life Insurance Company