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

Child-Designed Playground will Eventually Serve 7,500 Children and their Families

DETROIT, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ - The YMCA/Detroit Leadership Academy received a brand new playground today thanks to the effort of more than 200 volunteers from Foresters(TM), the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit and non-profit KaBOOM! The new playground will serve 7,500 children and their families in the Detroit community for years to come.

"Foresters is more than a life insurance provider," said Kasia Czarski, Chief Membership and Marketing Officer at Foresters. "Foresters also invests in its members and in communities where they live, such as Detroit. Foresters believes in creating opportunities for families to spend healthy time together, like the Detroit Leadership Academy 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 more than 250,000 children and their families.

The playground at Detroit Leadership Academy will provide 7,500 children and their families in the 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 YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit and the surrounding community. The Academy will open in the fall of 2010 with an enrollment of approximately 325 children who would not have had a playground if not for the project. 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.

"We are very excited to partner with Foresters and KaBOOM! to bring the children of Detroit a safe place to play and grow before and after school," said Shawn Hill, Founding Principal and Superintendent of the Detroit Leadership Academy.

Thanks to the work of Foresters, the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit and KaBOOM!, children and their families now have a 2,500 square-foot playground to call home that includes features such as an Adventure Bridge, Inclined Cliff Hanger, and Rockblocks Climber.

About the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit

The YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit is a volunteer-founded and led not-for-profit organization operating across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Livingston counties. Founded in 1852, the Detroit YMCA builds strong kids, strong families and strong communities through 14 YMCA branches and two residential camps. Our volunteers raise more than $1 million annually for program subsidies that help ensure participation for all that wish to build healthy spirit, mind and body. For more information, visit www.ymcadetroit.org or call 313-267-5300. For more information on The Detroit Leadership Academy visit www.YDLA.org or call (313) 223-2803.

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 1,700 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

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