BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Today more than 200 Bostonians and UnitedHealthcare employees joined the New England Patriots and KaBOOM! to build a new playground at the Bridge Boston Charter School.
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Today more than 200 Bostonians and UnitedHealthcare employees joined the New England Patriots and KaBOOM! to build a new playground at the Bridge Boston Charter School. The new play space, which was designed by the school's students and staff, will give the more than 250 kids a place to engage in safe and healthy activities (Photo: UnitedHealthcare).
The new play space will give the more than 250 students a place to engage in safe and healthy activities. Earlier in the summer, Bridge Boston students and staff helped design the new 2,400-square-foot playground during a special “design day” event, incorporating new elements such as a slither slide, cliff hanger and timber trail bridge.
“We were excited to team with UnitedHealthcare to turn this dream of a new playground into a reality for the Bridge Boston Charter School,” said Josh Kraft, president, New England Patriots Foundation. “We know the value of physical activity and exercise, particularly for children, and that this new space will give students a place to play for years to come.”
The Bridge Boston Charter School, designed to serve as a school and community hub for Bridge Boston families, opened its new campus in August.
“The new playground affirms our commitment to nurture the whole child at Bridge Boston Charter School,” said Yully Cha, executive director, Bridge Boston Charter School. “From design day to build day, the excitement around this project is energizing for our growing school and community family.”
“UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to help build a playground that will give children at the Bridge Boston Charter School a 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.
Volunteers worked with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that helps bring balanced and active play into children’s daily lives. The Boston playground is the 2,974th KaBOOM!-organized build since 1996, the 24th created by KaBOOM! and UnitedHealthcare and the 8th built with the Patriots.
This playground build is part of UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” program, an employee-volunteer initiative dedicated to decreasing hunger and obesity, inspiring service and encouraging volunteerism.
For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find opportunities to volunteer alongside UnitedHealthcare in your community, visit DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or "like" Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook.
UnitedHealthcare serves nearly 500,000 people in Massachusetts with a network of 115 hospitals and about 50,000 physicians and other care providers statewide.
About the Bridge Boston Charter School
Founded in 2011,
Bridge Boston Charter School is a tuition-free, public charter school
which aims to impact the education, health and social-emotional
wellbeing of children in some of Boston’s most underserved
neighborhoods. The school currently serves 272 students in pre-K through
5th grade, with plans to grow by a grade annually to serve a
total of 335 pre-K through 8th graders. Bridge Boston
believes that the most effective way to lift children out of poverty is
by equipping them with an excellent education. As such, the school
offers a longer day from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and school year from
August – June, and provides academic rigor, a commitment to nurturing
the whole child and a breadth of full-service programming to remove
obstacles to learning.
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 more than 16,700 playgrounds, engaged more than
one million volunteers, and served 8.5 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 and
why cities are embracing #playability: visit 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 1 million 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 @UHC on Twitter.
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