— Country music star and Checotah native Carrie Underwood and her C.A.T.S Foundation — Checotah Animal, Town and School Foundation — will join more than 200 local volunteers and the organizers from KaBOOM! today to build a new playground at Marshall Elementary School in Checotah.

Underwood will participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate the new play area at about 2 p.m. at Marshall Elementary School, 205 Owens Ave., Checotah.

The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in August.

The new playground will provide hundreds of children in the Checotah community a safe place to play. The children who attend Marshall Elementary School only have a limited amount of playground equipment to enjoy, according to a media release.

Today’s kids spend less time playing outside than any previous generation in part because only one-in-five children live within walking distance of a park or playground, according to the release.

KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization dedicated to saving play. For 15 years, KaBOOM! has been fighting the play deficit and saving play by ensuring there is a great place to play within walking distance of every child.

The playground is the first built by KaBOOM!, and Underwood’s C.A.T.S. Foundation in an effort to fight the play deficit and save play. The project is one of more than 150 playground builds KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2011.

 Established in 2009 by country superstar Carrie Underwood, the C.A.T.S. Foundation was created to help with general causes, needs, and services in the area of Checotah to directly impact her hometown community. In August of 2009, C.A.T.S. Foundation partnered with ACM Lifting Lives to donate more than $117,000 in new instruments for Checotah’s school music programs. In 2010, C.A.T.S. helped in the rebuilding of Checotah’s animal shelter, Happy Paws. For more information on C.A.T.S. Foundation, or to make a donation, visit http://www.thecatsfoundation.com.



About Marshall     Elementary School

Built in 1977, Marshall Elementary serves 452 students in grades pre-kindergarten through second. The staff is dedicated and skilled with a commitment to delivering high quality educational instruction that is well organized and developmentally appropriate. The integrated curriculum includes language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, physical education, computers, and library media. Marshall Elementary offers a variety of support programs such as speech, resource reading, Native American education, grandmother program, school nurse, counseling, and mentoring. Information: www.checotah.k12.ok.us.



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 more than 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,” http://book.kaboom.org/. 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. Information: www.kaboom.org.