Aspen Logistics, Inc. Contributes to September 23rd KaBoom Event’s Success
Atlanta, GA. 10.25.2010 – Aspen Logistics, Inc. participated in the KaBoom playground build event that was sponsored by the Home Depot Foundation on September 23rd. The event concluded as a success with the Bill Lucas YMCA Center receiving a new safer playground through the sweat and effort of volunteers. Aspen sent Dan Anderson and Garry Barfuss to this year’s event. Dan said after the event that working on top of the mulch pile was a challenge and exhausting but, rewarding work. The event had a good turn out and in the end everything came together to give the local community children a safe environment in which to play. Aspen learned of the opportunity through its relationship with the Home Depot. The Home Depot asked some of its vendors to participate and Aspen jumped at the opportunity. Aspen has participated in similar events through the Home Depot Foundation and KaBoom in the past three years. The logistics company is looking forward to next year and anticipating its involvement into what it sees as a great and noble charitable effort.
The Home Depot Foundation funded the playground through a grant along with a contribution from Bill Lucas YMCA. The Home Depot Foundation as a founding member of KaBoom provides the organization’s financial support, materials, and volunteers for their projects nationwide.
The Bill Lucas YMCA’s goal for the project was to create an outdoor educational learning environment and a fun, interactive space for children to play. The existing playground was over thirty years old and no longer met the needs of the children at the site. The new playground will enhance the social, emotional, and physical lives of the children at Bill Lucas YMCA by providing them a perfect location to make friends, develop self-confidence, and build fine and gross motor skills.
Pictures of the event can be found on KaBoom’s page: http://kaboom.org/gallery or, Aspen Logistics’ Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aspenlogistics
Aspen Logistics Inc. is a top 100 third party logistics firm who has been in business for over 30 years and operates approximately 3 million square feet of modern refrigerated and ambient warehouse facilities along with their own fleet of trucks. Aspen specializes in a variety of value-added services, including co-packing, pick pack, just-in-time inventory management and time sensitive custom deliveries. Aspen is a specialist in the retail and healthcare supply chain and understanding the details involved with shipping to major retailers and grocery chains has been a key to its successes. For more information on Aspen Logistics, please visit: http://www.aspenlogistics.com
Created in 2002, The Home Depot Foundation supports nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating and preserving healthy, affordable homes as the cornerstone of sustainable communities. The Foundation’s goal is for all families to have the opportunity to live in healthy, efficient homes they can afford over the long-term; to have access to safe, vibrant parks and greenspaces; and to receive the economic, social and environmental benefits of living in a sustainable community. Since its formation, The Home Depot Foundation has granted $190 million to nonprofit organizations and supported the development of more than 95,000 homes, planted more than 1.2 million trees, and built or refurbished more than 1875 playgrounds, parks and greenspaces. For more information, visit www.homedepotfoundation.org and follow us on Twitter homedepotfdn.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization dedicated to saving play. Through community building, the company is focused on giving every child in America a great place to play within walking distance. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 1,700 new playgrounds, skate parks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including an online community, free online trainings, grants, publications and the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which includes Playful City USA and Playmakers – a national network of individual advocates for play. KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.kaboom.org.
The Bill Lucas Southside YMCA is part of the Butler Street YMCA system, an independent organization associated with the YMCA of Greater Atlanta. A direct result of racial segregation, the Butler Street YMCA was once the only YMCA option for African-American citizens in the area. Today, the Butler Street YMCA operates four local facilities, including the Bill Lucas Southside YMCA. Established in 1977 in the Mechanicsville neighborhood of Atlanta, the Bill Lucas Early Learning Center is a state licensed child development center serving children aged two to twelve. Activities are structured to accommodate both working and non-working parents, offering children a chance to grow and develop in a positive, structured setting. Staff members from all four Butler Street YMCA facilities were excited to participate, as were the parents whose children attend programs at the Bill Lucas location. With the great work done by the Bill Lucas YMCA, a rich history including Martin Luther King, Jr. attending the Butler Street YMCA, and Atlanta Brave Bill Lucas being the first African American General Manager in Major League Baseball, this was certainly an extremely rewarding build.
