Newsroom | Community Health

Bicycles, scooters and sports toys help kids engage in healthy outdoor activities at home, but not all families can afford to purchase such costly equipment. The Play Sharity Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Deming, New Mexico, wanted to make sure that families in the area could access resources that encourage active play and learning, regardless of household income.

With a $21,569 Healthy Kids, Healthy Families® grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico, Play Sharity launched Project Activate Play to create an extensive library of active play equipment that families from low-income households can borrow from at no cost.

Play Sharity purchased bikes, helmets, scooters, play sets, sporting equipment — including footballs, soccer balls, tee ball supplies and much more — to provide nearly limitless opportunities for engaging children and their families in fun physical activity at home.  

“Anything that you could think of, we found it, and we added it to our lending library to get these kids active,” said Emily Wilson, business manager. “In our demographic where we are such low income, it’s nice to be able to provide those resources to the kids in our area.”

To learn more, visit playsharity.org.