KaBOOM!, the national non-profit dedicated to saving play for children, announced today that the Kraft Foods Foundation will return as a National Partner for the second year.

As a KaBOOM! National Partner, the Kraft Foods Foundation will serve alongside KaBOOM! as a national proponent of the importance of play and will assist in creating solutions to address the Play Deficit that currently exists in thousands of communities nationwide. Today’s kids spend less time playing outside than any previous generation in part because only 1-in-5 children live within walking distance of a park or playground. This Play Deficit is having profound consequences for kids physically as well as mentally and socially because children desperately need a place to play every day in order to be active and healthy. KaBOOM! National Partners, such as the Kraft Foods Foundation, support KaBOOM! national programs, which have a nation-wide impact on the health and well-being of children and communities. KaBOOM! national programs spread the message that play is critical to the development of children and create solutions to address the Play Deficit that currently exists in thousands of communities nationwide. 

“KaBOOM! is honored to have a partner like the Kraft Foods Foundation who is extremely passionate about the importance of play,” said KaBOOM! Founder and CEO Darell Hammond, author of The New York Times Best Seller KaBOOM!: How One Man Built a Movement to Save Play. “For 15 years, KaBOOM! has battled the Play Deficit among children and worked incredibly hard to convince people that play is not a luxury—it’s an absolute necessity. We’re grateful that the Kraft Foods Foundation continues to help KaBOOM! strive toward our vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America.”

Also for the second consecutive year, the Kraft Foods Foundation and KaBOOM! are partnering to build playgrounds across the U.S. as part of Delicious Difference Week, Kraft Foods’ global week of service. Last year, nearly 25,000 employees volunteered in 56 countries through a variety of events aimed to fight hunger and promote healthy lifestyles in communities around the world. The Kraft Foods Foundation expects those numbers to be even larger this year.

During Delicious Difference Week, from October 3 – 8, the Kraft Foods Foundation and KaBOOM! will build five playgrounds in Chicago, Madison, Wis., Paterson, N.J., Rogers, Ark., and Mount Vernon, N.Y. Each location will benefit from the hallmark KaBOOM! done-in-a-day playground builds involving hundreds of employee volunteers at each location.

“A key part of our mission is to give back to communities around the world, including promoting healthy lifestyles through our partnership with KaBOOM!,” said Nicole Robinson, Vice President of the Kraft Foods Foundation. “We’re thrilled to be funding five more playgrounds this October during Delicious Difference Week to help give children safe and healthy places to play.”

About Kraft Foods
The company and the Kraft Foods Foundation have donated more than $1 billion in cash and food to hunger-relief organizations over the past 25 years.  Through support of partners, including Save the Children, Feeding America, INMED Partnerships for Children, Charities Aid Federation and CARE, the company and Foundation support programs on almost every continent.  

Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is a global snacks powerhouse with an unrivaled portfolio of brands people love.  Proudly marketing delicious biscuits, confectionery, beverages, cheese, grocery products and convenient meals in approximately 170 countries, Kraft Foods had 2010 revenue of $49.2 billion, more than half of which was earned outside North America.  Twelve of the company’s iconic brands -- including Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Tang and Trident -- generate revenue of more than $1 billion annually, and 40 have been loved for more than a century.  A leader in innovation, marketing, health & wellness and sustainability, Kraft Foods is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500, Dow Jones Sustainability Index and Ethibel Sustainability Index.  For more information, visit kraftfoodscompany.com and facebook.com/kraftfoodscorporate.

About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to saving play. Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation, a fact that is having disastrous consequences on their health, achievement levels, and overall well-being. To fight this Play Deficit, social entrepreneur Darell Hammond founded non-profit KaBOOM! 15 years ago in Washington, D.C. with a vision of creating a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Since then, KaBOOM! has mapped over 85,000 places to play, built more than 2,000 playgrounds, and successfully advocated for play policies in hundreds of cities across the country. KaBOOM! also provides communities with online tools to self-organize and take action to support play on both a local and national level. Hammond chronicles the founding of the organization and the importance of the cause of play in his The New York Times Best Seller KaBOOM!: How One Man Built a Movement to Save Play. The book details how businesses and communities can work together to save play for children across the country. All author proceeds support KaBOOM!. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to the bold goal of ensuring that all children, particularly the 16 million American children living in poverty, get the active play they need to become healthy and successful adults. KaBOOM! has been a powerful champion for play since its founding in 1996, working with partners to build, improve, and open more than 15,000 playgrounds, engage more than 1,000,000 volunteers and serve more than 6,600,000 children. KaBOOM! creates and catalyzes great places to play; inspires, empowers and leads play advocates; and elevates the societal conversation about the importance of play in children’s lives. For more information, visit kaboom.org/act.

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