Bronx School Students Lend A Hand With Beautification Projects

NEW YORK, NY (07/15/2008)(readMedia)-- Children for Children, a non-profit dedicated to engaging young people in service, announced that for the third consecutive year it will be teaming up with Digitas, a New York interactive agency, and the elementary school student and faculty volunteers to improve a local school and community locations. This year's "Grow Involved! School-Community Makeover" marks the largest transformation yet, involving almost a thousand volunteers combined and extending from the interior of PS 73 out to the surrounding Bronx neighborhood.

Children for Children and Digitas will work side-by-side with students and faculty from PS 73, bringing to life the importance of service and civic engagement. The "Grow Involved! School-Community Makeover" program encourages young people to "Grow Involved!" through hands-on service that teaches all children that no matter how young, everyone has something important to give.

Projects inspired by the students and based on the needs of the teachers, parents' association, school and greater community will come to life in just one day with help from over 650 Digitas volunteers. As a marketing and interactive design agency, the employee volunteers lend unique skills such as artistry, design, carpentry and project planning, among others.

This year Digitas has raised corporate donations from companies in the New York metro area, among them including marthastewart.com.

After months of intensive preparation, volunteers will transform the school, playground and community garden with projects that include:

> Inspirational Murals. Painting on the walls of PS 73 with murals designed by Digitas volunteers with inspirational quotes by the students of PS 73.

> PS 73 Makeover. Cleaning, sprucing up and reorganizing classrooms and work areas with refreshed paint, new shelves, organizational equipment, new furniture made possible with donations from marthastewart.com.

> Park Refurbishment. Cleaning, restoration, and creation of painted pavement games such as four square and hopscotch in Nelson Park

> Taqwa Farm Refurbishment. Through generous donations, a brand-new playground will be constructed for children at the farm. Digitas' efforts include an outdoor stage, BBQ pit, tool shed, grapevine trellis and chicken coop, all of which will be assembled and installed at the farm.

> Community Beautification. General landscape clean-up, building flower beds and planting perennial flora in community areas around Nelson Park and the Jerome Avenue Staircase.

> Playground and Sports. Cleaning and re-painting a basket ball court and playground equipment at Nelson Park.

DATE: July 16, 2008

TIME: 8:30am - 4:00pm

LOCATIONS: PS 73, 1020 Anderson Ave, Bronx, NY 10452

> Inspirational Murals. PS 73, 1020 Anderson Ave, Bronx, NY 10452

> PS 73 Special Needs Room Makeover. 1020 Anderson Ave, Bronx, NY 10452

> Park Refurbishment. Nelson Park, West 166th St. and Nelson Ave.

> Outdoor Kids Theater. Taqwa Community Farm, West 164th St and Ogden Ave.

> Community Beautification. Nelson Park, West 166th St. and Nelson Ave., Jerome Avenue Staircase, Jerome Avenue and West 164th St.

> Playground and Sports Nelson Park, West 166th St. and Nelson Ave.

About Children for Children

Children for Children mobilizes the energy, ingenuity and compassion of young people, beginning at an early age, to discover their power and potential to solve real world problems through volunteer opportunities and service learning programs that instill a lifelong commitment to service

About Digitas

Digitas is a leading digital marketing agency, helping the world's biggest brands develop, engage and profit from building profitable relationships with their customers. The Agency pairs media, marketing, technology, creativity, imagination and analytics to ignite emotional bonds between people and brands. Digitas also operates an independent healthcare marketing brand, Digitas Health, as well as Prodigious Worldwide, the world's only standalone, global digital productions company. With sister agencies Starcom MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia and Denuo, Digitas is a member of Publicis Groupe's VivaKi-a global digital knowledge and resource center that leverages the combined scale of the autonomous operations of its members to develop new services, new tools, and new partnerships.

Paris-based Publicis Groupe S.A. is the world's fourth largest communications group, the world's second largest media counsel and buying group, and a global leader in digital and healthcare communications. With around the world activities spanning more than 104 countries on five continents, the Groupe employs as many as 44,000 professionals.