So Kids Can Wins Award

So Kids Can, a program launched in 2008 by Mike Green and Elliot Segal of the Elliot in the Morning Show to benefit youth-focused, nonprofit organizations, was announced as a 2012 President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Community Leadership Award recipient.

The annual award recognizes up to 50 individuals or organizations who improve the lives of others within the community by providing or enhancing opportunities to engage in sports, physical activities, fitness or nutrition-related programs.

The annual award recognizes individuals or organizations who improve the lives of others within the community by providing or enhancing opportunities to engage in sports, physical activities, fitness or nutrition-related programs.

So Kids Can was nominated for the award by KaBOOM!, a nonprofit that is dedicated to saving play across the country and is best known for its all-volunteer, done-in-a-day playground builds. Last year, So Kids Can raised more than $75,000 to build a playground located at Associates for Renewal in Education (ARE) in Washington, D.C.’s Bloomingdale neighborhood. In September Capitals players joined nearly 200 volunteers to build the 2,840 square foot playground, which now serves more than 600 community members daily.

So Kids Can is currently partnering with KaBOOM! for a second-straight year to raise money to build another Capitals-themed playground for an underserved community in the Washington, D.C., area. Combined with the ARE site, the playgrounds will serve more than 3,000 local children.

To raise money for So Kids Can, Caps players including Green, Nicklas Backstrom and Brooks Laich tally their goals and assists throughout the course of the regular season. At the end of the year, the players split the totals three ways and each will donate $100 for each goal and $50 for each assist. During the playoffs Backstrom, Green and Laich double the stakes, donating $200 per goal and $100 per assist. At the end of the season Segal donates the same amount as each of the players donated. Caps fans and local businesses are also encouraged to get in on the playground action.

To date, So Kids Can has raised nearly $170,000 for charities in the Washington, D.C., area