Foresters, KaBOOM! and volunteers bring families together with new playground at Turning Point School

Playground will enhance family and community well-being

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - The Indianapolis community was revitalized today thanks to a new playground built at Turning Point School. In less than eight hours, more than 200 volunteers from Foresters^TM, Turning Point Family Worship Center, and organizers from non-profit KaBOOM! created the new play space, which will serve approximately 180,000 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 Tony Garcia, President and CEO, 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 Indianapolis 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 August 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.

Tanya Harris Co-Founder and Administrator of Turning Point Schools said: "The installation of this playground is a realization of a long-time vision of offering Turning Point families and the surrounding community a safe, fun place for play and learning. We are grateful for the help from Foresters and KaBOOM! in achieving this goal."

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.

Turning Point Family Worship Center

As the educational branch of Turning Point Family Worship Center, Turning Point School is comprised of TP Kiddie Academy, serving preschool aged children, and an Elementary School, serving kindergarten through sixth grade. As an accredited Christian academy, educating students in both the far-east side of  Indianapolis and the City of Lawrence,  TP School strives to build a solid foundation for our youth to build upon and  achieve academic excellence. Since its start in 2000, TP School's staff and administration aim for excellence and to provide quality education in an atmosphere conducive to twenty-first century students. The school has thus set a bar of excellence in education and the arena Christian private schools. For more information, visit www.turningpointfwc.com.

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.

Tech Timeout and the Tech Timeout logo are trademarks of The Independent Order of Foresters.

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 balanced and active play they need to thrive. KaBOOM! has been a powerful champion for play since its founding in 1996, working with partners to build, improve and open more than 16,000 playgrounds, engage more than 1,000,000 volunteers and serve more than 7,400,000 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