Ottumwa, Iowa (December 13, 2018) – Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) and the national non-profit, KaBOOM!, awarded Wilson Elementary School a Let’s Play Community Construction Grant that will be used to build a school playground.
The playground build project is made possible by Let’s Play, an initiative by KDP to provide the funding, equipment and play spaces to help kids and families make active play a daily priority. Through Let’s Play, KDP and its partners are committed to helping create safe and inspiring PLAYces for Ottumwa students to learn, explore, grow and just be kids.
“We are extremely thankful for this grant!” said Jeff Hendred, Wilson Elementary principal. “This grant will have a positive impact on the hundreds of children served at Wilson Elementary and the families who access the playground after school hours. We cannot thank KDP and KaBOOM! enough for helping our school provide a quality, fun, and safe outdoor play area for the children in the community.”
The Wilson PTA formed a playground committee in the fall of 2017 to begin a fundraising campaign to replace the broken and inadequate playground equipment and meet the physical activity needs of the students. The committee has selected equipment that creates a variety of play that addresses the essential physical, social, and mental development of children. A soft rubber poured-in-place fall surface is an integral part of this project. Many local businesses, individuals, and families have supported the fundraising efforts to make this dream a reality.
KDP has committed $38.5 million to Let’s Play through 2019, impacting youth-serving organizations across the U.S., as well as Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Through Let’s Play, KDP partners with two non-profit organizations, KaBOOM! and Good Sports, to build and improve playgrounds in underserved communities and provide grants for sports equipment. In this way, KDP is doing its part to help eliminate the play deficit by making active play possible for more kids.
Visit Let’s Play at www.LetsPlay.com to join the conversation and learn how to apply for the various available grants to make communities more active and playful.
About Let’s Play
Let’s Play is an initiative by Keurig Dr Pepper to provide the funding, equipment and play spaces to help kids and families make active play a daily priority. KDP partners with KaBOOM! to build and improve playgrounds and with Good Sports to provide sports equipment grants to kids that would otherwise not have access. Let’s Play has already provided more than 11 million kids new opportunities to play. With year-round grants available for new or improved playgrounds and sports equipment, Let’s Play helps kids achieve balanced, well-rounded lifestyles. For more information, please visit LetsPlay.com or Facebook.com/LetsPlay.
About 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 improve 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