Playground Dreams
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Text, "Play is the highest form of research." - Albert Einstein. A boy stands in a dirt lot with a shipping container, single-story home, and cement lot behind him.
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SPEAKER 1: I want to climb higher than the trees.
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The boy looks straight ahead. A little girl stands on a dirt path beneath a tree with her hands crossed in front of her waist.
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SPEAKER 2: I want a super fast slide.
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A boy in a wheelchair with purple wheels sits in a school hallway.
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SPEAKER 3: I want a playground I can play on.
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He smiles. A little girl stands in a grassy field under a blue sky. Three trees are behind her and houses are in the distance beyond them.
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SPEAKER 4: I want to swing into the clouds.
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She looks straight ahead as a breeze moves her stray hair strands. A boy stands in a library and lifts a snow globe off of a shelf.
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SPEAKER 5: I want a playground for everybody.
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He holds the snow globe in both hands and shakes it. He sets it onto a table next to him as red sparkles swirl around inside of the globe. Inside of the globe is a playground and red umbrellas swirl through the air around it. Text, Playground Dreams.
A woman and two children walk up a sidewalk. Text, Jenny Cepeda. Parent, Paterson, NJ.
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JENNY CEPEDA: I'm a single mom. I have two boys, 10 and six.
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They sit on the front steps of a house.
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It's hard to raise kids in an environment that you can’t hardly take them outside because you don't know what you're going to bump into.
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A girl pushes another girl who is sitting inside of a shopping cart. Another girl plays hopscotch on a sidewalk. Text, James Siegal. CEO, KaBOOM!
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JAMES SIEGAL: Unfortunately, in communities across the country, we find that there are not enough safe places for kids to play, for kids to explore, for kids to be kids.
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One girl stands in a rotating playground structure as a second girl runs around it, spinning it as she does. Text, Debera Thomas. Principal, Kujawa Elementary.
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DEBERA THOMAS: Through play, the kids have an opportunity to explore, to inquire, to develop. They're free to open the doors to the world. So it's very, very important.
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A group of people stand in a dirt lot next to a building. Orange flags stick out of the ground and a front loader with an auger drill backs up.
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SPEAKER 6: Enter KaBOOM, a non-profit organization that believes in the importance of play in a child's development. KaBOOM's goal is to build playgrounds and communities that might not otherwise have the means to build one.
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The front loader lifts the auger drill out of a hole and reverses. Children watch the front loader and workers through windows in a building next to the worksite. Nadine Kujawa Elementary School.
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Without a playground, Kujawa Elementary applied for financial help, but funding fell through three times before Travelers and KaBOOM stepped in.
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A globe. Text, Kimberly Jenkins. Assistant Principal, Kujawa Elementary.
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KIMBERLY JENKINS: Public schools have limited funds. And when I heard about KaBOOM, I knew this was going to be our outlet here at Kajawa Elementary to get the kids the playground that they deserve.
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Six people walk down a street talking. They all wear red T-shirts that have the Travelers logo in white on the front.
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SPEAKER 7: Are you guys excited to build a playground today?
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A woman in a shirt that says #PlayMatters talks into a microphone to a crowd of people in Travelers shirts. They cheer and applaud. A field surrounded by trees full of people.
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SPEAKER 6: Travelers partnered with KaBOOM to build playgrounds in six communities and provided funding and volunteers.
SPEAKER 8: On three, ready? One, two, three.
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A group of people pick up a playground section.
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All right. Slow walk, guys.
SPEAKER 6: And KaBOOM provides the expertise and community volunteers.
MARLENE IBSEN:
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Text, Marlene Ibsen. CEO & President, Travelers Foundation.
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We've been talking and thinking a lot at Travelers lately about sustainability. Sustainability of the business, but that also ties to sustainability of the communities around us. And you can't have thriving neighborhoods and thriving children without having a safe place to play and build creative thinking.
TINA NEWSOME-LEE:
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Tina Newsome-Lee. Associate Managing Attorney, Corporate Claim.
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I grew up in the South Bronx, New York and disadvantaged communities, poor, and we didn't have a playground. So when I saw this endeavor that Travelers is doing, it touched my heart.
RAMONA GARCIA:
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Ramona Garcia. Principal, School #15.
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If you look around the area, where they don't have a place to play.
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She cries.
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It's not that safe. But if they come here, they know this is a safe haven for them.
SEAN RAMALHO:
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Text, Sean Ramalho. Regional President - New York/New Jersey Region, Travelers.
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This is definitely important to me because I grew up in an inner city neighborhood. And being able to give back to communities like the one that I came from is critical. And this project is important because it's a gift that keeps giving.
TONIA STUBBS:
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Tonia Stubbs. Director of Operations, Claim.
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Any time there's an opportunity to give back, especially to kids, you have to take advantage of that.
SPEAKER 9: All right. Now, we're going to walk it up.
VERNE LAURITZEN:
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Verne Lauritzen. Mayor, City of Jurupa Valley.
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It wouldn't be happening if we didn't have Travelers as a partner. If it was left to public entities all by themselves, things just wouldn't happen. It just wouldn't. So when you can combine public and private, that's when things really begin to happen.
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A crowd of people walks around a multicolored playground. A man cuts a ribbon. Text, Loree Toedman. Vice President, Personal Insurance Field Sales.
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LOREE TOEDMAN: I can't tell you how neat it was to see the children standing at the fence and we started this morning. And we talked about building something that they'd have for many years, could be proud of. A safe environment for them to come and play and learn from each other.
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A hand-painted sign that says "Thank You Travelers."
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That's what we're all about as a company, is just making everything better for everyone that we get to touch, do business with, insure, or within the community.
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Children climb on a playground and slide down a slide.
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JENNY CEPEDA: It's a big impact. It's so intense, I can't even describe it in words.
MATIAS TREVINO:
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Text, Matias Trevino. Parent, Orlando, FL.
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It makes me quite emotional to know that somebody that has no connection to my son or no connection to these children here would give so much of themselves to create this for them.
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Double doors swing open and children run through them.
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SPEAKER 6: For Kujawa Elementary, Jurupa Valley Adopt a Family, United Cerebral palsy of Central Florida, Roots Elementary, Grady Elementary, and School Number 15, the new playgrounds are a place for students and neighborhood children to grow, develop, and have fun.
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Children slide down a slide. Text, Houston, Texas. Jurupa Valley, California. Orlando, Florida. Aurora, Illinois. Denver, Colorado. Paterson, New Jersey.
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MARLENE IBSEN: To see this masterpiece come together, just to see our students smile, and laugh, and have fun is priceless to me.
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Amal Davis. Parent, Houston, TX.
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AMAL DAVIS: I'm just appreciative that someone has come to help out and come to the aid of the school.
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A boy swings on monkey bars.
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These kids are going to definitely benefit from it. So thank you.
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A man and woman hug.
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RAMONA GARCIA: Thank you. I wish I could just hug them all and say thank you.
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Ramona Garcia cries.
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SPEAKER 10: Thank you, Travelers.
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Children stand atop a triple slide and then slide down them.
Travelers logo. Text, #PlayMatters.
Playing allows children to create, explore, and imagine – all of which promote brain development, creative thinking and problem-solving. Unfortunately, many kids don’t have the benefit of safe, open spaces to play.
Enter KaBOOM!, an organization that builds playgrounds in underserved areas. In much the same way that Habitat for Humanity® builds homes, KaBOOM! builds playgrounds. We began partnering with them in 2017 because we believe every child deserves a safe place to play and learn. Since that time, Travelers employees have volunteered 7,600 hours to build 10 playgrounds in 9 states to help support the creativity and activity of thousands of children across the U.S. Our partnership highlights how we help build thriving neighborhoods where families can live and play safely.
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