CarMax Volunteers Will Build 30 Playgrounds for 100,000 Children
Across the United States
RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 7, 2013--
CarMax,
Inc. (NYSE: KMX), the nation’s largest retailer of used cars,
announced today the launch of a $4.1 million national partnership
between The
CarMax Foundation and KaBOOM!.
Through this partnership, The Foundation and KaBOOM! will build 30
playgrounds across the United States by the end of 2015, benefitting
100,000 children. KaBOOM! is the national nonprofit organization
dedicated to giving kids the childhood they deserve by bringing play to
those who need it most. To celebrate the official coast-to-coast launch
of the partnership, more than 400 volunteers simultaneously built two
new playgrounds today in Richmond, Va. and Los Angeles, Calif.
Only one in five children live within walking distance of a park or
playground,* and children ages eight to 12 spend an average of 7.5 hours
a day in front of a screen.** This play deficit is having profound
consequences for kids physically, socially and cognitively. The new
partnership supports the KaBOOM! vision of a great place to play within
walking distance of every child in America.
The partnership is a three-year commitment with three distinct impact
areas. First, the 30 nationwide community-built playgrounds will be
designed by children and built by volunteers from local partners and
thousands of CarMax associates. Second, The Foundation is donating 11 Imagination
Playgrounds to select partner organizations. This breakthrough
playspace concept includes innovative, reconfigurable loose-parts for
children to design their own playground. The third component of the
partnership includes a collaboration to identify and eradicate “Play
Deserts” – areas that have lots of kids but not enough places to play –
through crowd-sourced data from the KaBOOM! Map of Play.
This year, the Foundation is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a
new focus on children’s healthy living. This focus has been directed by
associates, who have expressed a desire to help today’s youth address
the important issues of obesity and lack of physical activity. In
addition, the partnership is launching during CarMax Cares Month, the
annual height of associate volunteerism.
“CarMax has a strong culture of integrity, teamwork and taking care of
each other. It’s our culture of caring for others that has drawn our
associates to the issue of children’s healthy living,” said
Lynn
Mussatt
, president of The CarMax Foundation and CarMax’s vice president
of business operations. “Our associates across the country will impact
countless families by helping get kids moving and playing.”
Today’s coast-to-coast playground builds are just the start. In the next
year, The Foundation and KaBOOM! nationwide tour will include playground
builds in the following cities: Richmond, Va.; Los Angeles, Calif.;
Baltimore, Md.; Chicago, Ill.; Kansas City, Kan.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.;
Phoenix, Ariz.; Dallas, Texas; and Atlanta, Ga. The Foundation and
KaBOOM! are actively seeking nonprofit partners for these builds. For
more information on being a partner, please visit the KaBOOM!
website.
“Associates who volunteered at past KaBOOM! and Foundation builds in Los
Angeles and Nashville left the experience energized and inspired,” said
Damon Devins
, CarMax location general manager in Buena Park, Calif., and
KaBOOM! volunteer. “The true reward for all of us involved will be
seeing children playing on these playgrounds for years to come.”
Research shows that children who participate in regular physical
activity and play are healthier, feel more connected to their community,
foster positive attitudes toward diversity, build confidence and perform
better in the classroom.
“Play is disappearing across the country, but partnerships like this one
with The CarMax Foundation will help give kids the childhood they
deserve,” said
Darell Hammond
, Founder and CEO of KaBOOM!. “Kids need to
play actively every day – at home, in schools and in communities. We are
grateful to The CarMax Foundation and their commitment to play for
children of all ages.”
About The CarMax Foundation
The CarMax Foundation is designed to enrich the communities where our
associates live and work by providing volunteers, matching gifts and
grants to qualifying nonprofit organizations across the country. Since
2003, The Foundation has donated more than $15 million to nonprofits
with programs focusing on education, youth leadership, wellness and
children’s healthy living. Funding programs are made available through a
portion of CarMax, Inc.’s pre-tax profits. The Foundation matches
associates’ and their families’ donated time and personal monetary
commitments up to $10,000 per associate each year. In the past year
alone, associates have participated in more than 600 volunteer team
builder projects across a variety of nonprofit organizations. For more
information on The CarMax Foundation, visit http://www.carmaxcares.com.
CarMax,
a member of the FORTUNE 500 and the S&P 500, and one of the FORTUNE
2013 “100 Best Companies to Work For,” is the nation’s largest
retailer of used cars. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., CarMax currently
operates 121 used car superstores in 61 markets. The CarMax consumer
offer is structured around four customer benefits: low, no-haggle
prices; a broad selection; high quality vehicles; and customer-friendly
service. During the 12 months that ended February 28, 2013, the company
retailed 447,728 used cars and sold 324,779 wholesale vehicles at its
in-store auctions.
About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving kids the
childhood they deserve by bringing play to those who need it most.
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. 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 because children need to play actively every
day at home, in school and in their communities. Since then, KaBOOM! has
mapped over 90,000 places to play, built more than 2,300 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!:
A Movement to Save Play, now out in paperback. 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 an office in San
Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.
* Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
** Kaiser
Family Foundation
Source: CarMax, Inc.
CarMax, Inc.
Media Contacts
Bridget
Szuminsky, Public Affairs Coordinator, 804-747-0422, ext. 4773
Michelle
Ellwood, Public Affairs Coordinator, 804-747-0422, ext. 4139
Twitter:
@CarMax,
@CarMaxCares