Delta launches KaBOOM! partnership with the construction of a new Seattle area playground

More than 200 volunteers help the build-in-a-day project designed by Auburn children

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Oct 18, 2013, 12:00 ET

SEATTLE, Oct. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) employees from the Seattle area will join with the City of Auburn, Auburn Food Bank and KaBOOM! to build a new playground for local children at Brannan Park in Auburn, Wash.

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More than 200 volunteers will take part in the build-in-a-day project based on drawings created by local children. The new playground will offer more than 3,400 square feet of play area and will replace existing playground equipment that is more than 30 years old. The new park will feature slides, a bridge, swings and a see-saw among other playground favorites requested by local children who participated in a design day event in August.

"Delta people are thrilled to help the children of Auburn with a safe place to play every day and give them a place where they can be healthy and active children," said Mike Medeiros, Delta's vice president – Seattle. "With access to a new playground, children develop physically, socially and cognitively and we're proud to be part of building strong communities where we live, work and serve."

The project marks the first of its kind between Delta and the non-profit organization KaBOOM! which has already built more than 2,300 playgrounds and renovated 2,000 others throughout North America since its inception in 1996. Delta is committed to bringing play to the children who need it most by partnering with KaBOOM! to build future playgrounds throughout the United States.

Seattle is one of Delta's fastest-growing international gateways with recently expanded service to 38 peak-day departures to 16 destinations, including seven international cities. The airline has also invested $14 million in its facilities at Sea-Tac International Airport, including its recently completed lobby renovations, a new Delta Sky Club, Sky Priority services, new gate area power recharging stations and expanded ticket counters.

About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving kids the childhood they deserve by bringing play to those who need it most. Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation, a fact that is having disastrous consequences on their health, achievement levels, and overall well-being. Social entrepreneur Darell Hammond founded non-profit KaBOOM! in 1996 in Washington, D.C. with a vision of creating a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America because children need to play actively every day at home, in school and in their communities. Since then, KaBOOM! has mapped more than 90,000 places to play, built more than 2,300 playgrounds, and successfully advocated for play policies in hundreds of cities across the country. KaBOOM! also provides communities with online tools to self-organize and take action to support play on both a local and national level. Hammond chronicles the founding of the organization and the importance of the cause of play in his The New York Times Best Seller KaBOOM!: A Movement to Save Play, now out in paperback. The book details how businesses and communities can work together to save play for children across the country. All author proceeds support KaBOOM!. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has an office in San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

About Delta
Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. Delta was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2013 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list, topping the list for the second time in three years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 312 destinations in 56 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. Delta is investing more than $3 billion in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta and Facebook.com/delta.