Anne M. Jeans Receives $15,000 Grant For New Playground

Dr Pepper Snapple Group and national non-profit KaBOOM! has awarded a $15,000 "Let’s Play" Community Construction Grant.

The grant is part of a three-year commitment from Dr Pepper Snapple Group to KaBOOM! to help build or fix up 2,000 playgrounds by the end of 2013.

It's all part of what's being  called the "Let's Play" initiative introduced by both orgnizations in November of 2010. In total, the partnership between Dr Pepper Snapple Group and kaBOOM! will spend $15 million on the program, benefitting an estimated five million kids across North America.

“The AMJES playground is in use nearly everyday of the year. This is a great opportunity for the district to make it an outstanding area for our students and community,” said Board President Paula Dupont.

The grant will provide partial funding needed to update Anne M. Jeans' playground equipment.The district said the following in a media announcement about the award,

"Our current playground equipment is not in good condition. We are also planning on providing more age-appropriate equipment for our youngest learners at Anne M. Jeans. We will be working with volunteers from the school district and community members to build the playground. We are very excited to begin this project. It will benefit our students and community on many levels. Our students will have a safe place to play and our community will be brought together to build the playground. Unstructured, child-directed play has been proven to help kids develop physically, socially and cognitively, yet today’s kids have less time and fewer opportunities to play than any previous generation."

In 2011, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and KaBOOM! built or improved 528 playgrounds, through the Let’s Play grants, benefitting an estimated 1.3 million children during the lifetime of the playgrounds.

*The above was a media announcement from District 180, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and kaBOOM!