Shade Structure Protects Students From Sun Exposure

ROSWELL, GA —The Roswell North Elementary School Foundation held a ribbon cutting on Friday to celebrate the installation of a shade structure over the school's playground. The structure was donated by The Passion Foundation, an organization that provides shade structures to help protect children from the sun’s harmful rays.

The foundation raised matching dollars needed for the amenity during its annual Spring Soiree in April 2017. The Passion Foundation was started in 2010 by Jon and Tara Parla shortly after Tara was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. Tara lost her fight with cancer in 2012 and is survived by her husband and two children, Kendyl, 12 and Kaden, 10, who is a student at Roswell North Elementary.

The Passion Foundation's goal is to raise money provide structures that would decrease amount of sun children are exposed to. These structures can block out 96 percent of harmful UV rays and lower the temperature 15-20 degree underneath, according to the organization's website (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here).

RNE principal Maureen Lilly cut the ribbon alongside Passion Foundation co-founder Jon Parla and RNE Foundation President Eric House. Others who attended the ceremony include City Council member and Roswell North parent Matt Judy, Roswell North Elementary Foundation board members, Passion Foundation co-founder Dana Simantel, Tara Parla’s parents, Jim Simantel and Lin Simantel and the two Parla children.

This is the ninth shade supported by the Passion Foundation and the first to be erected in Georgia.

Images via Roswell North Elementary School Foundation