If you look at my sidebar, you will see a little “Let’s Play” Ambassador badge. Basically, “Let’s Play” is an initiative by Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) that launched last year. It’s a community partnership focused on getting kids active nationwide by providing ideas, tools and actual places where communities can increase their physical activity. A major part of the program is a $15 million playground grants commitment to KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization focused on bringing play back into the lives of children. Ultimately, the goal is to build or fix up 2,000 playgrounds by the end of 2013, which would benefit approximately five million children across North America. Providing tools to help kids be active and encouraging kids to play…of course I want to be a part of this program!
A few weeks ago a friend (who is a fellow blogger) asked me why I am not a part of a lot of blogger ambassador programs. Honestly, I don’t accept most offers for extended ambassador relationships (paid or unpaid) for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have to really believe in the product or service in order to have my name associated with it. In my opinion, ambassador programs are more than standard reviews. It’s more like a stamp of approval. Secondly, I’m a minimalist and I just don’t like a lot of badges cluttering up my sidebar. So, for the most part, I try to stick to 2 to 3 extended brand associations at a time. All of that is written to explain that I really believe in the mission of the “Let’s Play” program.
I’m especially excited to announce that Let’s Play is celebrating their one-year anniversary today and will be building a play space in Philadelphia. If you would like to join me in advancing the Let’s Play mission of saving play, I want to encourage you to take the Let’s Play Pledge —at Facebook.com/LetsPlay and to learn more about the program at LetsPlay.com. The pledge is simply to spend at least 60 extra minutes of active play per week with your children. That’s only 20 minutes a day for 3 days a week or 10 minutes a day if you spread it over 6 days. I don’t know about your kids but mine need at least 20 minutes a day to release their energy or they are bouncing off the walls anyway! If you want to get even more involved, you can apply for a playground grant for your neighborhood. Grants range from $500 (for playground completion projects) to $30,000 (for construction of new playgrounds). Yay for more play! 🙂
FYI: As a “Let’s Play” ambassador, I am compensated financially for helping to spread the word about this initiative and writing for Let’s Play online channels. As always, the words and “play” are distinctly mine!