Child-Designed Playground will Serve Over 100,000 Children and their Families Every Year

SANFORD, FL, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -  The Central Florida Zoo received a brand new playground today thanks to the effort of more than 200 volunteers from Foresters^TM, a life insurance provider committed to the well-being of families, the local community and non-profit KaBOOM! The new playground will serve over 100,000 children and their families who attend the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens every year. Planning for the playground began at a Design Day event held in February 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.

"Foresters shares its financial strength with its members and communities where they live, such as the greater Orlando area," said Kasia Czarski, Foresters Chief Membership and Marketing Officer. "Playgrounds are an ideal place for families to get to know other families and build strong communities.  This new playground at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens will provide opportunities families to spend quality time together for years to come."

Foresters has invested over $2 million with KaBOOM! to build 35 playgrounds across North America since 2006. These playgrounds will eventually serve more than 525,000 children, providing them and their families with a place where they can play, learn and have fun together.

The playground at the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens will provide over 100,000 children and their families with a great place to play and engage in healthy family time. In less than eight hours, the child-designed playground was built from scratch by hundreds of volunteers from Foresters, the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens and the surrounding community. In addition, children and families spent the day playing games and participating in arts and crafts activities.

"We are excited to partner with Foresters and KaBOOM! to bring this playground to the children and their families who visit the Zoo," said Joe Montisano, CEO of the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens. "We are always seeking ways to improve the Zoo experience for our guests and the KaBOOM! playground will give children a great place to play and interact with others."

Thanks to the work of Foresters, the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens and KaBOOM!, children and their families now have a 2,500 square-foot playground to call home that includes features such as a Funnel Adventure Tube, a Treehouse Climber and a Triple Racer Slide.

About Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens - The Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens is a 116-acre private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and to engaging and educating our guests by sharing knowledge and celebrating our natural world.  For more information regarding the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens visit www.centralfloridazoo.org or call 407.323.4450.  The Zoo is located on I-4 Exit 104 in Sanford and is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

About Foresters
Founded in 1874 as a fraternal benefit society, Foresters^TM champions the well-being of families through quality life insurance, unique member benefits and inspiring community activities.  Foresters shares its financial strength with more than 835,000 members in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Unity Life of Canada^‡, a wholly owned subsidiary of Foresters, represents Foresters in Canada. For more information, please visit www.foresters.com.

Foresters^TM is a trademark of The Independent Order of Foresters, a fraternal benefit society, Toronto, Canada M3C 1T9.
ˆIncludes total number of UK Child Trust accounts
^‡ Unity Life of Canada, a Foresters company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Independent Order of Foresters

About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to saving play. Because all children deserve to be active and healthy, KaBOOM! works to ensure that every child in America has a great place to play within walking distance. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together businesses and communities to construct more than 1,900 new places to play across North America. KaBOOM! also fights the Play Deficit with online tools that empower communities to join the movement to save play. The KaBOOM! website, kaboom.org, allows communities to self-organize and take action to support play on a both a local and national level.

SOURCE Foresters

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