Sep 24 2014
More than 200 volunteers from the New England Patriots and New England Revolution charitable foundations, UnitedHealthcare and Boston-area residents will team up to build a new playground at Brooke Mattapan Charter School in Boston.
The new 2,500-square-foot playground will include a nine-foot slither slide, a 360-degree spiral slide and more. The playground’s design is based on drawings created by Brooke Mattapan students who participated in a “design day” event in June.
The volunteers are working with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that works to bring balanced and active play into children’s daily lives. This playground is the 2,516th KaBOOM!-organized build since 1996 and the 15th created by KaBOOM! and UnitedHealthcare.
“Our new playground will provide children and families with a fun and safe place to play, where they can learn and spend time together while being active,” said Katie Megrian, principal, Brooke Mattapan Charter School. “We’re very grateful to all the volunteers who are rolling up their sleeves and helping us bring the joy of play to our campus.”
Brooke Mattapan Charter School is a full K-8 school with a mission to provide an academically rigorous public education that will ensure students from Boston and Chelsea are prepared to enter and succeed in college.
“As we work with UnitedHealthcare on our fifth playground together, we continue to build upon our mission to help children to live healthy lives,” said Josh Kraft, president, New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. “We hope the playground will enrich the lives of children at Brooke Mattapan Charter School and demonstrate to all involved the benefits of volunteering.”
“UnitedHealthcare is a fantastic partner of the New England Revolution, and we’re very excited to work side by side with its employee volunteers on this project,” said Brian Bilello, president, New England Revolution. “We look forward to constructing a playground that will help the children of Brooke Mattapan Charter School participate in healthy activities.”
“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,” said Stephen Farrell, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of New England.