Toro and ARA Foundations Team Up for Community Impact Project in Baltimore

The Toro Company Foundation and The American Rental Association (ARA) Foundation have a long history of giving back. They recently worked with the ARA of Maryland and the United Way of Central Maryland to host a volunteer project on July 28. The mission? To update and enhance the grounds at the United Way’s Family Center at Ben Franklin High School in Baltimore.

The Ben Franklin Family Center provides free, full-day childcare for parenting students. The facility ensures that students don’t have to choose between completing their education and caring for their children. It also offers enriching early childhood education for infants and toddlers, along with multigenerational support that addresses housing, food and other essential needs for families.

The project included crews removing and replacing landscaping along the facility’s perimeter, installing new privacy fence slats, planting bushes, enhancing the playground with new rubber safety surfacing and assembling new play equipment. All of this helped create a safer, more welcoming environment for children and families.

These companies provided equipment and volunteers for the transformation:

• AAA Party Rentals
• Bay Country Rentals
• Carter Cat Rentals
• Dreamers Event Rentals
• Fred’s Tents
• Holland Park Tents
• InTENTional Systems
• L & A Tent Rentals
• The Matadore Equipment
• Oxon Hill Rentals
• Washington Air Compressor Rental Co.

More on the Project

On top of revitalizing the United Way’s Family Center, The ARA Foundation presented a $20,000 grant for the organization to Franklyn Baker, president and CEO, United Way of Central Maryland. According to Baker, the average high school graduation success rate of the teen parents who utilize the Center’s services is nearly 80 percent compared to the national average of approximately 40 percent. Baker described the day’s project as “wraparound support” for the environment the Center provides. “It’s a journey,” Baker said of the Center’s mission, “and [the project’s volunteers] are helping us along this journey. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank each and every one involved.” 

“We are thankful for ARA and what they are providing for us — not just the monetary, but also the manpower to get this done,” said Beth Littrell, associate vice president of community engagement and volunteerism, United Way of Central Maryland. “This project is something that has been on my list for about five years; finally getting someone out here to do this is huge for us and it’s huge for the kiddos.”

The improvements at the Center were part of the Toro Company Foundation and the ARA Foundation’s Community Impact Project program. For more info, visit thearafoundation.org/community-impact-program.