In July, more than 200 of our customers and crewmembers joined Bellflower, CA residents to restore a decaying playground. The renovated Simms Park is now a secure, safe location for recreation and activity and provides an ADA-compliant play space to more than 1,215 local children and families in the Bellflower community.

Simms Park marks our 22nd playground built in partnership with KaBOOM! and the fourth in California. Since 2005, we have worked together with KaBOOM! to fight the deficit of play for children in underserved neighborhoods and areas by creating safe play spaces throughout our airline's network. This partnership has successfully engaged more than 5,000 volunteers to move over 30 tractor trailers containing 48,000 cubic yards of mulch (a weight equivalent to nine elephants!) for 22 playground builds. To date, we have restored play for more 50,000 children and as always - helping to inspire humanity.

"This project, especially Build Day, was an amazing and rewarding time for the Bellflower community. Thanks to our proud partnership with JetBlue and KaBOOM!, and the tireless efforts of all of the volunteers and contributors from the planning stages to Build Day, children in Bellflower will have another fun play space to enjoy for many years to come. Partnering with JetBlue and KaBOOM! on this incredible project ensures that children in our community have the opportunity to experience the lifelong benefits of play. Our residents have embraced this new playground as their own since it opened; it has been bustling with activity every day and that is very exciting to see," said P.J. Mellana, director of parks and recreation at the City of Bellflower.

Mayor Scott A. Larsen, City of Bellflower City Council Members Ray Dunton and Sonny Santa Ines and Mayor Pro Tem Dan Koops were presented with a certificate of special recognition for the grand opening of Simms Park on behalf of Bellflower from the Congress of the United States House of Representatives.

"KaBOOM! is proud to partner with JetBlue, a corporation that values the importance of play in kids' lives," said Teresa Crippen, senior project manager at KaBOOM!. "Through this partnership, we will increase and improve play opportunities across the country so that more kids can get the childhoods they deserve filled with balanced and active play."

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