New England Patriots, New England Revolution and UnitedHealthcare Build Playground at Children’s Services of Roxbury
Published October 06, 2015
- Hundreds of volunteers built a 2,400-square-foot playground in eight hours
Published October 06, 2015
More than 200 volunteers from the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, the New England Revolution Charitable Foundation, UnitedHealthcare and Boston-area residents built a new playground at Children’s Services of Roxbury (CSR) today, which is located within YouthBuild Boston.
The new 2,400-square-foot playground includes a triple racer slide, tic-tac-toe activity wall, rock climber and more. The playground’s design is based on drawings created by kids from CSR who participated in a “design day” event in August.
“We are grateful for our new state-of-the-art playground,” said Sandra M. McCroom, president, Children’s Services of Roxbury. “It will support our children’s social and emotional development in a safe space. Through play, they will use their imaginations, exercise, solve problems, learn, grow and thrive.”
CSR is a community-based nonprofit founded in 1968 to effectively handle the growing number of African-American children in need of foster homes and adoption. CSR has grown to provide critical services to families and children of every race, and ethnic and linguistic background. It also provides emergency and transitional housing services for homeless families and adults. Its programs include early childhood education; behavioral health services; emergency, transitional and permanent housing support; and intensive foster care and adoption services.
The volunteers worked with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that works to bring balanced and active play into children’s daily lives. This playground is the 2,688th KaBOOM!-organized build since 1996 and the 19th created by KaBOOM! and UnitedHealthcare.
“Participation in this project promotes the core values of the youth we serve and provides an important avenue of growth for the young people in our community,” said Ken Smith, executive director, YouthBuild Boston.
YouthBuild Boston was founded in 1990 with the goal of providing underserved youth with the support and credentials needed to successfully enter the trades. For this project, young people from YouthBuild Boston volunteered to help with the site preparation, landscaping and planning for the playground build.
“We’re proud to be working with UnitedHealthcare on our sixth playground together,” said Josh Kraft, president of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. “We hope this playground will enrich the lives of children at Children’s Services of Roxbury and demonstrate the importance of volunteering and giving back to the community.”
“It’s great to be working with UnitedHealthcare to construct a playground that will help the youth of Children’s Services of Roxbury participate in healthy activities,” said Brian Bilello, president, New England Revolution.
“UnitedHealthcare’s employees are honored to help build a playground that will give local children a safe place to play and exercise outdoors with their friends and families, while creating healthy habits that will last a lifetime,” said Stephen Farrell, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of New England.
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 400,000 people in Massachusetts with a network of 108 hospitals and other health facilities and more than 30,000 physicians and other care providers statewide.
The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation is the 501(c)(3) non-profit entity created by the Kraft family to support charitable and philanthropic agencies throughout New England. This support comes in the form of direct grants, and the donation of signed memorabilia to a variety of charitable causes, and from Patriots players who offer their direct support by appearing at charity functions throughout the year. Robert Kraft established the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation when he purchased the team in 1994 as a way for the organization to give back to the communities it calls home. The Foundation’s primary goal is to support programs that aid the youth and families of New England while underscoring the Kraft family’s deep commitment to philanthropic activities in the community. For more information about the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, please visit www.patriots.com/community.
The New England Revolution Charitable Foundation is the team’s 501(c)(3) non-profit organization through which the Revolution support charitable and philanthropic organizations throughout New England. This support comes in the form of both direct grants and in-kind donations of tickets and Revolution memorabilia used at charity fundraisers, and through a select number of player appearances at charity functions and educational programs. New England Revolution Charitable Foundation assists organizations and programs by supporting their health-and-wellness and educational campaigns and initiatives, especially those targeting youth and those with close ties to the game of soccer and sports. For more information about the New England Revolution Charitable Foundation, please visit www.revolutionsoccer.net/community/charitable-foundation.
Children’s Services of Roxbury, Inc., is dedicated to providing comprehensive child care services and helping families establish strong foundations for living. Our child care services are designed to meet the needs of families in our communities whose composition, cultural background, ethnicity and language are diverse and varied. For more information, visit www.csrox.org.
The mission of YouthBuild Boston (YBB) is to empower and assist underserved young people from the Boston area with the essential social, vocational, academic, and life skills necessary to navigate a positive pathway to self-sufficiency and neighborhood responsibility. www.facebook.com/ybboston www.twitter.com/@YBBoston
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.
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.