Foresters, KaBOOM! & Volunteers Build New Playground for La Habra Children
Child-Designed Playground will Eventually Serve 7,500 Children and their Families
LA HABRA, CA, July 24 /PRNewswire/ - Children in La Habra received a brand new playground today thanks to the effort of more than 200 volunteers from Foresters(TM), the City of La Habra, the La Habra Family Resource Center, the Institute for Healthcare Advancement and non-profit KaBOOM! The new playground will eventually serve 7,500 children and their families in the La Habra community.
"Foresters is more than a life insurance provider," said Arny Bereson, Director Member Development with Foresters. "Foresters also invests in its members and in communities where they live, such as La Habra. Foresters believes in creating opportunities for families to spend healthy time together, like the Guadalupe Park 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 City Council and I are greatly appreciative of KaBOOM! and Foresters for their continued commitment to the children of La Habra, and we thank the Family Resource Center and IHA for being a community partner in this terrific project," said La Habra Mayor G. Steve Simonian.
The playground at Guadalupe Park will provide 7,500 children and their families in the La Habra 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 City of La Habra, the La Habra Family Resource Center, the Institute for Healthcare Advancement and the surrounding community. 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 so excited to see a new playground come to life in La Habra," said Vanessa Rodriguez, Community Coordinator, La Habra Family Resource Center. "Its location near the walking path at Guadalupe Park gives children the opportunity to be more active outdoors and enjoy family time with their parents and older siblings. We are very grateful to Foresters, KaBOOM! and the many volunteers for helping us encourage play and activities in La Habra. We envision many families using this park for reunions, birthday parties and spending quality time together."
Thanks to the work of Foresters, the City of La Habra, the La Habra Family Resource Center, the Institute for Healthcare Advancement and KaBOOM!, children and their families now have a 2,490 square-foot playground to call home that includes features such as a Rockblocks Zigzag slide, a Hopscotch Climber and swingsets.
About City of La Habra
Located at Orange County's northernmost corner, La Habra is 7.3 square miles with a population of 62,635 and approximately 21,000 households. A quiet residential community, it is conveniently located within an hour's drive of many beaches, mountain, and desert recreation areas. A full-service city employing over 275 people on a full-time basis, La Habra provides a full range of services, including police protection, water and sanitation services, street maintenance, animal control, permit processing, and recreation programs. Within the City are three outstanding school districts, which combined operate eight elementary schools, three middle schools, and two public high schools. A number of private and specialty schools also exist including preschools and those for the developmentally challenged. The City continues to focus on public safety, capital improvements, economic development, customer service, and beautification.
About La Habra Family Resource Center
Under the Institute for Healthcare Advancement's (IHA) mission, "empowering people to better health", the La Habra Family Resource Center (FRC) provides a complete, family centered support system, working with community resources that can address the health, emotional, social, and academic needs of children and their families. The FRC successfully operates under the FaCT (Families and Communities Together), Health Access/Project Connections and Community Building Initiative grants. The FRC annually helps over 5,000 primarily low-income and at risk families. Located on the Las Lomas Elementary School campus, the FRC provides a comprehensive range of social and health services to families with children from birth to 18 years of age.
About Institute for Healthcare Advancement
The Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA) is a La Habra-based nonprofit organization founded in 1993, whose mission is "Empowering people to better health." IHA is a nationally recognized expert in health literacy, and publisher of the award-winning, easy-to-read and easy-to-use self-help health care book series, "What To Do For Health." IHA also operates the La Habra Family Resource Center (FRC), and provides management services for the Friends of Family Health Center (FOF).
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 1,800 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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