Foresters, KaBOOM! & Volunteers Build New Playground for Tampa Children

Child-Designed Playground will Eventually Serve 30,000 Children and their Families

TAMPA, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ - Jackson Heights Park received a brand new playground today thanks to the effort of more than 200 volunteers from Foresters^TM, the City of Tampa and non-profit KaBOOM!. The new playground will serve 30,000 children and their families in the Tampa community for years to come.

"Foresters is committed to creating opportunities for families to spend quality family time together," said Greg Gaudet, National Sales Manager with Foresters. "Foresters is more than a life insurance provider.  Foresters champions the well being of families by investing in its members and communities where they live, like the Jackson Heights Park playground we all built here together."

Foresters, a life insurance provider committed to the well-being of families, is funding 20 playground builds across North America in 2010. By investing $1.5 million in these projects, Foresters is partnering with KaBOOM! to build playgrounds that will eventually serve nearly 250,000 children and their families.

The playground at Jackson Heights Park will provide 30,000 children and their families in the Tampa community with a great place to play. In less than eight hours, the child-designed playground was built from scratch by hundreds of volunteers from Foresters, the City of Tampa and the surrounding community. In addition, children and families spent the day playing games and participating in arts and crafts activities. Playgrounds are an ideal place for families to get to know other families and build strong communities.

"Thank you Foresters and KaBOOM!, the entire community is so grateful for our brand new playground," said Karen D. Palus, Director, City of Tampa Parks and Recreation Department. "A project like this takes many people working together toward a shared goal. Our parks are where lifetime friendships are formed, where the gap between generations is bridged, where people discover what they have in common."

Thanks to the work of Foresters, the City of Tampa and KaBOOM!, children and their families now have a 3,825 square-foot playground to call home that includes features such as a 360 Degree Spiral Slide, Rockblocks Climbing Wall and Tic-Tac-Toe Activity Wall.

About the City of Tampa Parks and Recreation Department
The Parks and Recreation Department's highest priority is to meet the Mayor's goal of advancing the quality of life in Tampa's neighborhoods by delivering consistent services; maintaining the safety and appearance of city parks and recreation facilities; and instilling community pride. For more information, visit www.tampagov.net/parksandrec.

About KaBOOM!
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization dedicated to saving play. Through community building, the company is focused on giving every child in America a great place to play within walking distance. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 1,800 new playgrounds, skate parks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including an online community, free online trainings, grants, publications and the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which includes Playful City USA and Playmakers - a national network of individual advocates for play. KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

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 675,000 members in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Unity Life of Canada^‡ is a wholly owned subsidiary of Foresters. 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.
^‡ Unity Life of Canada, a Foresters company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Independent Order of Foresters

SOURCE Foresters