PROVIDENCE — Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) and national non-profit KaBOOM! awarded Saint Pius V School in Providence a $15,000 Let’s Play Community Construction Grant that will be used to construct a new playground on the school campus on Elmhurst Avenue in Providence.
The grant is part of Let’s Play, an initiative by DPS to provide kids and families with the tools, places and inspiration to make active play a daily priority. Unstructured, child-directed play has proven to help kids develop physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually, yet today’s kids have less time and fewer opportunities to play than any previous generation. As a result of Let’s Play grants and projects, more than 6.5 million kids will benefit from new or improved playgrounds around the nation by the end of 2020.
Sister Maria Francesca Wiley, O.P., principal of Saint Pius V School, said “this grant will significantly help our school community to raise funds to replace our existing playground which has served the school for over 25 years, but which offers only limited play activities for our students. We are very excited and grateful for this grant!”
Saint Pius V School is currently raising funds to match the $15,000 grant to replace and enlarge the existing 25-year old wood play structure in the school playground. The new playground will enable more play activities to occur benefitting more of the school’s 220 students. April 2018 is the scheduled installation of the new playground which will be designed and built by the parents, teachers, and students in the Saint Pius V School community. To donate to the SPV Plays! Fund, please visit the school’s website at www.spvri.org or call Jennifer Anzelone at (401) 421-9750.
Dr Pepper Snapple has committed more than $35.5 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, Dr Pepper Snapple 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, Dr Pepper Snapple is doing our part to help eliminate the play deficit by making active play possible for more kids.
Since its launch in 2011, Let’s Play has provided more than 10 million children with more opportunities to play via safe, accessible playgrounds and sports equipment. Moreover, by 2020 we will have engaged more than 80,000 volunteers from Dr Pepper Snapple, our partners and our communities in this effort.
