Today: Playground build at Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy

FRIENDSHIP SOUTHEAST ELEMENTARY ACADEMY,

DR PEPPER SNAPPLE GROUP AND KaBOOM! TEAM UP TO BUILD NEW PLAYGROUND IN JUST ONE DAY FOR SOUTHEAST DC CHILDREN

WHAT:                   More than 200 volunteers from Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy organizers from KaBOOM! and residents of the Southeast DC community will join forces on Friday, May 6 to build a new playground at the school. The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in March.   

WHEN:               Friday, May 6

                            8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.             Kick off ceremony and volunteer deployment

                            11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.          Best viewing of playground construction

                            1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.             Final construction phase and adjustments

                            2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.             Ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate new play area

                            (Note: all times approximate)

WHERE:            Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy
645 Milwaukee Place, SE
Washington, DC  20032

                           

WHY:                  The project is part of Let’s Play, a community partnership led by Dr Pepper Snapple Group to get kids and families active nationwide. The first Let’s Play initiative is a $15 million, three-year commitment to KaBOOM! to build or fix up 2,000 playgrounds by the end of 2013, benefiting an estimated five million children across North America. Dr Pepper Snapple Group is also a member of the leadership circle within the KaBOOM! National Partner Program.

                            The new playground will provide more than 550 children in the Southeast DC community with a safe place to play. Currently, the children who attend Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy do not have a playground to enjoy.

                            Today’s kids spend less time playing outside than any previous generation in part because only 1-in-5 children live within walking distance of a park or playground. This Play Deficit is having profound consequences for kids physically as well as mentally and socially. Children desperately need a place to play every day in order to be active and healthy. KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization dedicated to saving play. For 15 years, KaBOOM! has been fighting the Play Deficit and saving play by ensuring there is a great place to play within walking distance of every child.  

                            In addition to the community-built playground, the new play area will also include Imagination Playground in a Box – a breakthrough playspace concept designed by architect David Rockwell to encourage child-directed, unstructured free play. Via manipulable loose parts and natural elements like sand and water, Imagination Playground in a Box allows children to constantly change their environment and design their own course of play.