The CarMax Foundation and KaBOOM! Celebrate Month of the Military Child with Nationwide Effort to Bring More Play to Kids

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Longtime national partners KaBOOM! and The CarMax Foundation are building a community playground and providing ten life-size creative play sets to organizations that serve military families during the "Week of Play" from April 9-13. The month of April is designated as the Month of the Military Child which was established to bring awareness to the important role children play in the armed forces community. The partners will host eleven community events across the country during "Week of Play" to bring play opportunities to kids of veterans and active duty service members. Together, they will make it easier for kids to get the childhood they deserve filled with play.

Many kids experience significant emotional impact when a parent deploys or returns home from military service, or when they move locations frequently. According to Blue Star Families' annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey, "military child education and impact of deployment on children" ranked among the top five concerns for both service members and military spouses for the first time in the history of this survey. When kids face uncertainty or stress, play creates a safe buffer against the change or adversity around them. The opportunity to play is crucial for kids to restore normalcy and stay active and healthy.

On April 11, The CarMax Foundation and KaBOOM! will bring a new playground to Chloe Clark Elementary School in DuPont, Washington, a community with a large military family population, for area kids to explore, imagine and create. Hundreds of community volunteers will come together to build a new playspace that experts designed based on local kids' drawings of their dream playgrounds at a special event last month. Many families in this community have expressed that while their experience moving to Seattle has been positive, they are still seeking additional community support to make the transition easier on their kids.

"We are proud to be the first corporate partner with KaBOOM! to make a significant commitment to bringing playspaces to military communities across the country," said Matt Aman, president of The CarMax Foundation. "Our associates are excited about seeing the impact these new spaces will have on the communities in which we live and work, and they understand the importance of promoting and protecting opportunities for kids to play. We have a deeply rooted commitment to supporting our military community, so this effort aligns perfectly with our goals."

The CarMax Foundation has provided the majority of the funding for the playgrounds and creative play sets through its national partnership with KaBOOM!, supporting The Foundation's commitment to furthering the cause of kid's healthy living. Through a multiyear national partnership with KaBOOM!, The CarMax Foundation will help build 33 playgrounds and provide 32 creative play grants across the country by the end of 2018 – a $5 million investment that will serve thousands of kids. The CarMax Foundation supports KaBOOM! in ensuring that all kids get the play they need to thrive.

"Opportunities to play are an essential part of childhood and help kids develop resiliency and grit, as they fall and pick themselves up," said James Siegal, CEO of KaBOOM!. "When kids experience stress or transition in their lives, play also provides a creative outlet to help them cope, and can restore normalcy and stability. We know this is particularly true for kids who move often or have deployed parents. Thanks to The CarMax Foundation's continued leadership and commitment to supporting our military community, we're able to create more opportunities for kids to experience the healing power of play."

The ten grants for creative play sets, Imagination Playground™ and Rigamajig™, will be provided to child-serving non-profits across the country during the "Week of Play." Each grantee from Charleston, SC to Oceanside, CA is celebrating the receipt of the play sets through community events. Imagination Playground™ empowers kids to build and rebuild the playspace of their dreams using a collection of blue foam blocks with no limits to their creativity. Rigamajig™, a collection of wooden planks, wheels, pulleys, nuts, bolts and rope, allows children to follow their curiosity through play while learning 21^st century skills. This type of play helps military families have fun and healthy experiences together.

The CarMax Foundation
The CarMax Foundation enriches the communities where our associates live and work. Together with CarMax, Inc., the Foundation has donated more than $50 million since 2003. Funding programs are made available through a portion of CarMax, Inc.'s pre-tax profits. CarMax, a member of the FORTUNE 500 and the S&P 500, and on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for 14 consecutive years, is the nation's largest retailer of used cars. For nearly 25 years, CarMax has made car buying more ethical, fair and stress-free by offering a no-haggle, no-hassle experience and an incredible selection of vehicles. CarMax makes selling your car easy too, by offering no-obligation appraisals good for seven days. At CarMax, we'll buy your car even if you don't buy ours®. For more information, access the CarMax website at www.carmax.com.

KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids – especially those living in poverty – the childhood they deserve through great, safe places to play. KaBOOM! inspires communities to make play the easy choice and works to drive the national discussion about the importance of PLAYces. KaBOOM! has collaborated with partners to build or restore more than 17,000 playspaces, engaged more than 1.5 million volunteers and served over 9 million kids. To learn why play matters for all kids, visit kaboom.org and join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom, facebook.com/kaboom and instagram.com/kaboom. #playmatters #PLAYceforKids

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