Foresters Financial, KaBOOM! and volunteers bring families together with new playground at Pouch Scout Camp

Playground will enhance family and community well-being

STATEN ISLAND, NY, Sept. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - The Staten Island community was revitalized today thanks to a new playground built at Pouch Scout Camp. In less than eight hours, more than 375 volunteers from Foresters Financial^TM, Boy Scouts of America© – Greater New York Councils, and non-profit KaBOOM! created the new play space, which will serve more than 150,000 children and their families in the local community for years to come.

"Today's playground build is the first celebration of First Investors transitioning to the Foresters Financial brand," said Bill Lipkus, President and CEO, Foresters Financial. "Since First Investors joined the Foresters family of companies, we've had a tremendous partnership helping everyday families reach their financial goals. We believe that an investment in a playground is an investment in family well-being and the community, and we are happy to provide the Staten Island 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 July when community members met with organizers from KaBOOM! and Foresters Financial to design their dream playground. The drawings inspired the final playground design.

Since 2006, international financial services provider Foresters, the parent company of Foresters Financial, has invested over $10 million with KaBOOM! to build over 120 playgrounds across the US and Canada by the end of 2015. Over their 15-year lifespan, these playgrounds will provide more than 4 million children and their families with an opportunity to spend quality time together and enhance family well-being. Today marks the 120^th playground that Foresters has built with KaBOOM!

"Pouch Camp is one of the jewels of Staten Island Greenbelt and has been the home to Scouts from Staten Island for over 50 years," said Joe Schiltz, Field Director for the Boy Scouts of America. "For over ten years the Greater New York Councils has operated a day Cub Scout Day Camp at Pouch in July and August for the benefit of young boys and girls on Staten Island."

Green spaces and safe play structures where children and families can enjoy and spend time together are sparse in many high density communities. Playing outdoors is an important part of every child's healthy development and the creation of this new playground will allow thousands of children to play safely and be active in their community.

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.

About Boy Scouts of America – Greater New York Councils
The Greater New York Councils (GNYC) Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is the council that serves New York's five boroughs. GNYC has helped over five million young men and women become "Prepared for Life" since its' inception in the 1920's. Throughout New York City there are more than 46,000 Scouts and Explorers, 4,200 active volunteer leaders and 800 scouting community partners. Our programs foster healthy lifestyles, community service, environmental stewardship, workforce preparedness, leadership development and STEM education.  https://www.bsa-gnyc.org and scouting.org.

About Foresters Financial
Foresters Financial™ is a diversified financial services company helping everyday families reach their financial goals, offering solutions and guidance through its network of nearly 750 financial representatives working in 42 branch offices across the United States. Foresters Investment Management Company is the investment advisor to the First Investors family of mutual funds, which had firm-wide assets of nearly $10 billion in total assets under management as of June 30, 2015. Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company offers a range of insurance and annuity products and maintains and "A" (Excellent) rating by A.M. Best¹. To learn more about Foresters Financial, please visit forestersfinancial.com

About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids – particularly those growing up in poverty in America – the childhood they deserve filled with balanced and active play, so they can thrive. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has collaborated with partners to build, open or improve nearly 16,300 playgrounds, engaged more than one million volunteers and served 8.1 million kids. KaBOOM! creates great places to play, inspires communities to promote and support play, and works to drive the national discussion about the importance of play in fostering healthy and productive lives. To learn why #playmatters: visit kaboom.org or join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom or facebook.com/kaboom.

¹ An "A" (Excellent) rating is assigned to companies that have a strong ability to meet their ongoing obligations to policyholders and have, on balance, excellent balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile when compared to the standards established by A.M. Best Company. A.M. Best assigns ratings from A++ to F, A++ and A+ being superior ratings and A and A- being excellent ratings. In assigning Foresters rating on July 1, 2015, A.M. Best stated that the rating outlook is "stable", which means it is unlikely to change in the near future. See ambest.com for our latest rating.

Foresters Financial and Foresters are trade names and trademarks of The Independent Order of Foresters (a fraternal benefit society, 789 Don Mills Road, Toronto, Canada M3C 1T9) and its subsidiaries.

PDF: http://files.newswire.ca/1431/StatenIslandFunFacts.pdf 

SOURCE Foresters

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