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State Farm Bayou Classic and KaBOOM! Team Up to Build New Playground in Just One Day

The new playground will provide more than 400 children who attend the Abramson Science & Technology Charter School with a safe place to play. Currently, the children do not have a playground at the school to play on. The playspace is the third built by KaBOOM! and State Farm(R) in conjunction with the State Farm Bayou Classic, and one of more than 215 KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2008 in an effort to provide a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. The build is also part of Operation Playground -- the KaBOOM! initiative to build playgrounds in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"State Farm is committed to make our communities better. With that shared motivation, State Farm agents, employees, family members, and friends are involved in multiple service efforts to help revitalize communities along the Gulf," said State Farm Marketing Vice President Pam El. "We are enthused to work in collaboration with building projects like Habitat for Humanity. Likewise, State Farm is proud to sponsor the KaBOOM! playground build for the third year during the State Farm Bayou Classic weekend to help restore hope and fun for the children and families in this area."

In addition to the new playground, the students will receive some education on build day. State Farm's Neighborhood of Knowledge(R) will be set up on site for the children of the Abramson Science & Technology Charter School. Neighborhood of Knowledge(R) is a showcase of fun and education featuring educational coloring books, child I.D. kits and more.

The playground build will begin at 8:30 a.m. with a kickoff ceremony and will conclude at 2:30 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the playground. More information can be found at http://www.statefarmbayouclassic.com.

About State Farm:

State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer inCanada. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees serve more than 78 million auto, fire, life and health policies inthe United States andCanada, and more than 1.9 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 32 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com(R) or inCanada statefarm.ca(R).

Abramson Science and Technology Charter School/Recovery School District

Abramson Science and Technology Charter School is one of 66 schools in the Recovery School District. Created by legislation passed in 2003, the RSD is a special school district administered by theLouisiana.

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Since 1995, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 1,500 new playgrounds, skateparks, sports fields and ice rinks acrossNorth America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including an online community, regional and national trainings, grants, publications and the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which includes Playful City USA and the Playmaker Network -- a national network of individual advocates for play. Headquartered inWashington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has offices inChicago andSan Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.kaboom.org.

SOURCE State Farm