Nathan's Famous and KaBOOM! Celebrate Local Students With Ready. Set. PLAY.

Nathan's Famous and KaBOOM! brought a piece of Coney Island to the students of Washington Elementary School and surrounding community this week. The world famous hot dog company and the national non-profit dedicated to giving kids the play they need to thrive honored the school by bringing their Ready. Set. PLAY. program to the Harvey, Ill., area. With the program, which was created earlier this year, Nathan's Famous and KaBOOM! have been able to celebrate active play and honor the "playmakers" who are making play possible in communities around the country.

Washington Elementary School was chosen for this event because of their commitment to promoting better physical activity and inclusive play for their students and local community. Earlier this year, the school district and community teamed up with KaBOOM! to build a new playspace in their neighborhood and just recently, completed a community garden.

"We are excited to celebrate the students of Washington Elementary School and the surrounding community with an afternoon of fun and play," said Mike Paribello, senior director of marketing for the John Morrell Food Group, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods and licensing partner of Nathan's Famous. "We teamed up with KaBOOM! earlier this year to create Ready. Set. PLAY. as a way to honor those who are trying to make a positive impact on not just the lives of children, but for communities as a whole, by promoting and protecting active way. We've had a lot of fun hosting these events and bringing a taste of Coney Island to youth and communities across the country."

"The fundamentals of balanced and active lifestyles begin at home with our parents and in our communities," said KaBOOM! CEO and Founder Darell Hammond. "With support from Nathan's Famous through Ready. Set. PLAY., we are able to bring play opportunities to communities across the nation and inspire kids and families to incorporate play in their everyday lives."

The fun-filled afternoon included the flavors of Coney Island with delicious Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs, carnival-like games, the No. 43 Nathan's Famous Ford show car and giveaways. A drawing was also held at the event with four students winning tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, September 14 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

"Bringing District #147 families together to have a good time is a great benefit to not only the families but to the community and the school," said Gayle Bradburn, District Instructional Coach. "We are honored to have such a fun event through Ready. Set. PLAY. and are truly thankful for the support of organizations such as Nathan's Famous and KaBOOM!"

For more information, please visit Nathan's Famous and KaBOOM! online.

About Nathan's
Nathan's is a Russell 2000 Company that currently distributes its products in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Cayman Islands and nine foreign countries through its restaurant system, foodservice sales programs and product licensing activities. At June 29, 2014, the Nathan's restaurant system consisted of 311 units, comprised of 306 franchised units and five company-owned units (including one seasonal unit). Nathan's was ranked #55 on the Forbes list of the Best Small Companies in America and was listed as the Best Small Company in New York State in October 2013. Last year, over 480 million Nathan's Famous hot dogs were sold. For additional information about Nathan's please visit our website at www.nathansfamous.com.

About John Morrell Food Group
With over a century and a half of experience, John Morrell Food Group brands have become respected and well known for providing premium-quality meat products to families across the United States. With products ranging from lunchmeat and franks to smoked sausage, bacon and pepperoni, the John Morrell Food Group is an important part of consumers' mealtimes. The John Morrell Food Group offers several national and regional brands including Armour , Eckrich , John Morrell , Curly's , Patrick Cudahy , Carando , Healthy Ones , Margherita Kretschmar and LunchMakers .

About Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods is a $14 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Armour, Cook's, Gwaltney, John Morrell, Kretschmar, Curly's, Carando, Margherita, and Healthy Ones. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental, and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and www.smithfieldcommitments.com.

About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to the bold new goal of ensuring that all children, particularly the 16 million American children living in poverty, get the balanced and active play they need to thrive. KaBOOM! has been a powerful champion for play since its founding in 1996, working with partners to build, improve and open more than 15,000 playgrounds, engage more than 1,000,000 volunteers and serve more than 6,600,000 children. KaBOOM! creates and catalyzes great places to play, inspires, empowers and leads play advocates, and educates and elevates the societal conversation about the importance of play in children's lives. For more information, visit kaboom.org/act or follow the conversation on why #playmatters at twitter.com/kaboom or facebook.com/kaboom.

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