10:48 a.m. August 16, 2014
East Knox Dream Playground receives $15,000 grant

KNOXVILLE – The East Knox County Elementary School in Mascot is an isolated rural school with 550 children. It is 75% free and reduced lunch. The nearest grocery store, restaurant or park is ten minutes away. The school is the center of the community for recreational activities, a church meeting place, scouts, and the only daycare located close by.

This week a $15,000 Let’s Play Community Construction Grant to benefit the East Knox Dream Playground was awarded by Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) and national non-profit KaBOOM! With help from The Great Schools Partnership and the Knox County Health Department, East Knox County Elementary School and the East Knox County PTO applied for the KaBOOM! Grant. The funds, along with a $25,000 grant from the West Knox Sertoma Club and $12,000 from the East Knox County PTO, are helping create an outdoor space that benefits the entire Mascot community.

The grant is part of Let’s Play, a community partnership led by Dr Pepper Snapple Group to get kids and families active nationwide. In 2011, as part of Let’s Play, Dr Pepper Snapple Group made a $15 million, three-year commitment to KaBOOM!, the national non-profit saving play by ensuring there is a great place to play within walking distance of every child. Together through Let’s Play, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and KaBOOM! will build or fix up 2,000 playgrounds by the end of 2014, benefiting an estimated five million children across North America.

“This has been a vision of mine for years,” said former East Knox County Elementary School Principal Kay Dawson. “This playground provides a place both for our students and for the entire community to play and enjoy themselves.” ​

"I appreciate Ms. Dawson, our PTO and our community partners for providing this to our East Knox students. Our children will benefit from this for years to come,” added Kristi Woods, Principal, East Knox County Elementary School.

The project started in May, when for three days, parents and community members, with assistance from the Knox County Schools Maintenance Department, gathered to work on digging and assembling, pouring concrete and spreading mulch. The result is an innovative playground that includes handicapped accessible structures.

Now, East Knox County Elementary School students, parents, PTO board, West Knox Sertoma Club and dedicated community members are invited to “Sneak Peek” activities August 8, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. The playground will be open to view and explore the new equipment. “We invite the community to join us and help celebrate our new playground,” Woods said.

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. Through Let’s Play grants and projects in 2011, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and KaBOOM! built or improved 528 playgrounds, benefitting an estimated 1.3 million children during the lifetime of the playgrounds. People are encouraged to visit Let’s Play at www.LetsPlay.com to join the conversation and learn how to apply for the various available grants to make their communities more active and playful.

The East Knox PTO is a supportive, dedicated, group of parents who work with limited resources to provide support for many student services and school projects.

The Great Schools Partnership is to serve as a think-tank, catalyst, incubator, start-up funder and operational partner for making Knox County Schools globally competitive. For more information on the Great Schools Partnership, please call (865) 215-4501 or visit our website at greatschoolspartnership.com.

Let’s Play is a community partnership led by Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) to get kids and families active nationwide. The first Let’s Play initiative is a $15 million, three-year commitment to KaBOOM!, the national non-profit that’s saving play. Together, through Let’s Play, DPS and KaBOOM! will build or fix up 2,000 playgrounds by the end of 2013, benefiting an estimated five million children across North America. For more information, visit LetsPlay.com or Facebook/LetsPlay.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) is a leading producer of flavored beverages in North America and the Caribbean. Our success is fueled by more than 50 brands that are synonymous with refreshment, fun and flavor. We have 6 of the top 10 non-cola soft drinks, and 11 of our 14 leading brands are No. 1 in their flavor categories. In addition to our flagship Dr Pepper and Snapple brands, our portfolio includes 7UP, A&W, Canada Dry, Clamato, Crush, Hawaiian Punch, Mott's, Mr & Mrs T mixers, Peñafiel, Rose's, Schweppes, Squirt and Sunkist soda. To learn more about our iconic brands and Plano, Texas-based company, please visit DrPepperSnapple.com. For our latest news and updates, follow on Facebook.com/DrPepperSnapple or Twitter.com/DrPepperSnapple.

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! in 1996 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 89,000 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.

Published August 16, 2014