Volunteers to Build Playground at El Pomar Boys & Girls Club in Colorado Springs

Today more than 200 Colorado Springs-area residents and UnitedHealthcare employees will build a new playground at the El Pomar Boys & Girls Club, which is part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pikes Peak Region.

The new 2,400-square-foot playground will include a Cozy Cocoon, Tree Climber, Tic-Tac-Toe Activity Wall and more. The playground’s design is based on drawings created by children from the El Pomar Boys & Girls Club who participated in a “design day” event in June. The new playground will give more than 250 kids in Colorado Springs a modern and safe place to play.     

The volunteers will work with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that helps bring balanced and active play into children’s daily lives. The El Pomar playground is the 2,643rd KaBOOM!-organized build since 1996, and the 17th to be created by KaBOOM! and UnitedHealthcare.

“We’re incredibly grateful to UnitedHealthcare, KaBOOM! and all the volunteers for their help in bringing the joy of play to our Club,” said James Sullivan, president and CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pikes Peak Region. “We’re thrilled to have this new, beautiful playground that will benefit hundreds of children for years to come.”

The Boys & Girls Club of the Pikes Peak Region is one of 14 out of 4,400 clubs across the country that partner with the Department of Defense specifically to serve military families. More than 25 percent of the children served by the Club have at least one parent who is or has been deployed.

“UnitedHealthcare is honored to help build a playground with a nonprofit partner who has a strong track record of serving military families,” said Tim Ray, vice president, Midwest sub-region, UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans. “We believe the new playground at the El Pomar Boys & Girls Club will help inspire these children to participate in healthy activities by playing and exercising outdoors.”

This playground build is part of UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” program, an employee-volunteer initiative to help prevent obesity. For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get involved, visit DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or "like" Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook.

UnitedHealthcare serves more than 1.1 million people in Colorado through its commercial, Medicare and TRICARE businesses, with a network of 107 hospitals and more than 20,300 physicians and other care providers statewide.

About the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pikes Peak Region
Since 1888, the Boys & Girls Club of the Pikes Peak Region (BGCPPR) has served the Colorado Springs community by providing children and teens with a safe place to learn and grow every day after school. BGCPPR is the oldest Club west of the Mississippi River and the eighth oldest Club of more than 4,000 worldwide. Each year, BGCPPR serves approximately 3,500 local youth with nationally acclaimed programming focused on health and life skills, character and leadership development, and education. For more about BGCPPR visit bgcppr.org/about-us. 

About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids – particularly those growing up in poverty in America – the childhood they deserve filled with balanced and active play, so they can thrive. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has collaborated with partners to build, open or improve nearly 16,300 playgrounds, engaged more than one million volunteers and served 8.1 million kids. KaBOOM! creates great places to play, inspires communities to promote and support play, and works to drive the national discussion about the importance of play in fostering healthy and productive lives. To learn why #playmatters: visit www.kaboom.org or join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom or facebook.com/kaboom.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.