FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Harvest House: Shaelina Holmes, 941-953-3154, shaelina@harvesthousecenters.com
KaBOOM!: Tamara Grider, 202-464-6196, tgrider@kaboom.org
Keurig Dr Pepper and KaBOOM! Award Harvest House Let’s Play Construction Grant Sarasota, FL (January 28, 2020) – Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) and the national non-profit KaBOOM! awarded Harvest House a Let’s Play Community Construction Grant that will be used to build a playground on one of three of Harvest House’s campuses serving families and youth experiencing homelessness. The playground build is made possible by Let’s Play, an initiative by KDP to provide the funding, equipment and play spaces to help kids and families make active play a daily priority. Through Let’s Play, KDP and its partners are committed to helping create safe and inspiring PLAYces for Sarasota kids to learn, explore, grow, and just be kids. “A playground is a perfect environment to build healthy bodies and healthy brains,” said Cheryl Clunk, Director of Family and Youth Services. “Our children will now have a safe place to develop their imagination, explore creativity, improve dexterity, strengthen physical abilities, and enjoy positive playtime with their parents and friends.” Harvest House wants families to leave the program with a plan for sustainable housing, a renewed sense of hope, and a support system, which is proven to be an important factor in reducing homeless recidivism. A safe place for children to play and parents to meet is essential for allowing these relationships to form. The playground will also be used to host birthday parties, baby showers, cookouts, and other community-centered events for clients. All of Harvest House’s facilities look and feel like home, and now with a playground at a central location, the children who come through for this short period of time will feel even more comfortable and be able to have fun. KDP has committed $38.5 million to Let’s Play through 2019, impacting youth-serving organizations across the U.S., as well as Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Through Let’s Play, KDP partners with two non-profit organizations, KaBOOM! and Good Sports, to build and improve playgrounds in underserved communities and provide grants for sports equipment. In this way, KDP is doing its part to help eliminate the play deficit by making active play possible for more kids. Visit Let’s Play at www.LetsPlay.com to join the conversation and learn how to apply for the various available grants to make communities more active and playful.
About Harvest House In 1992 Pastors Jim and Peggy Minor founded Harvest House with just 6 beds for men in recovery from substance abuse. Today, Harvest House has 9 supportive housing campuses and 25 affordable rentals encompassing 400+ beds and serving more than 900 individuals annually. Harvest House is dedicated to the premise that all people deserve safe, stable housing, and the opportunity to renew their hope again. As a pioneer in the transitional and permanent supportive housing movement, Harvest House is one of the largest human services providers in Sarasota to work towards the development, preservation, and management of affordable, service-enriched housing. We serve homeless families, veterans, youth ages 18 to 24, and adults with a history of incarceration and substance abuse. About Let’s Play Let’s Play is an initiative by Keurig Dr Pepper to provide the funding, equipment and play spaces to help kids and families make active play a daily priority. KDP partners with KaBOOM! to build and improve playgrounds and with Good Sports to provide sports equipment grants to kids that would otherwise not have access. Let’s Play has already provided more than 11 million kids new opportunities to play. With year-round grants available for new or improved playgrounds and sports equipment, Let’s Play helps kids achieve balanced, well-rounded lifestyles. For more information, please visit LetsPlay.com or Facebook.com/LetsPlay. About KaBOOM! KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids – especially those living in poverty – the childhood they deserve through great, safe places to play. KaBOOM! inspires communities to make play the easy choice and works to drive the national discussion about the importance of PLAYces. KaBOOM! has collaborated with partners to build or improve more than 17,000 playspaces, engaged more than 1.5 million volunteers and served over 10 million kids. To learn why play matters for all kids, visit kaboom.org and join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom, facebook.com/kaboom and instagram.com/kaboom. #playmatters #PLAYceforKids
