Four New Grants for Boys & Girls Clubs in Ohio

Funding will expand and support Triple Play wellness program

MASON, Ohio--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and Boys & Girls Clubs of America are continuing their work to improve the health of kids in Ohio by expanding the Triple Play wellness program.

“We’re out to change that, and through the Triple Play program we’re helping kids learn how fun it can be to live healthy, active lifestyles.”

Today, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation announced that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland and Boys & Girls Club of Dayton will both receive a $10,000 start-up grant to implement Triple Play programming. Additionally, Boys & Girls Club of Erie County, Inc. and Boys & Girls Club of Lorain County will receive $5,000 Triple Play Healthy Habits grants to provide programming focused on teaching the importance of healthy eating habits and being physically active.

“Bad eating habits and more sedimentary lifestyles have resulted in a generation of kids and teens that are less healthy than their parents were at the same age,” said Erin Hoeflinger, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio. “We’re out to change that, and through the Triple Play program we’re helping kids learn how fun it can be to live healthy, active lifestyles.”

Triple Play: A Game Plan for the Mind, Body and Soul, is Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s proven health and wellness program. Supported by founding sponsor Coca-Cola and co-sponsor, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, the program encourages Club members to eat healthier (mind), become more physically active (body) and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships (soul).

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that childhood obesity rates have nearly tripled since 1980. This decreased health status means millions of American children and teens are at increased risk for lifelong health challenges, such as heart disease and diabetes. The Triple Play program is working to turn this trend around.

A recent study of more than 2,000 children ages 9-14 who attend Boys & Girls Clubs showed that Triple Play succeeded in getting them to exercise more, eat healthier foods and feel better about themselves. Triple Play kids increased to 90 percent of the federally recommended amount of daily exercise, which is 60 minutes a day for children, while their peers outside the program decreased to 78 percent.

“Triple Play has rapidly become one of the most popular programs offered at Boys & Girls Clubs across the country,” said Wayne B. Moss, BGCA’s senior director of Sports, Fitness and Recreation. “We’re thrilled to have Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation as a co-sponsor of the program and thank them for the work they are doing to make sure that we are able to bring Triple Play to additional youth. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation is truly committed to improving the health of kids and families, and these grants will make an immediate, positive difference in the lives and the futures of our Club members.”

The $30,000 in start-up and supplementary grants announced today are part of a three-year, $5 million commitment from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s parent company foundation to Boys & Girls Clubs of America to promote healthy lifestyles. Last year, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation provided Triple Play startup grants to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati and Boys & Girls Clubs of Columbus and Healthy Habits grants to the Orrville Area Boys & Girls Club and Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo. Boys & Girls Club of Massillon also received a grant to help foster fun competitions among Club members.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is committed to improving the health of Ohio communities. Through its State Health Index – a collection of public health data – and Healthy Generations grant program, Anthem and its foundation work to identify the issues most in need of attention and then direct their financial support and volunteer efforts toward improving health in those areas. Increasingly, these efforts are focusing on addressing the health risks posed by declining rates of physical activity and increasing rates of obesity and chronic disease.

About Triple Play

Triple Play: A Game Plan for the Mind, Body and Soul was launched in 2005 by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services with support from The Coca-Cola Company to encourage kids to eat healthier, become more physically active and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships. A two-year study of more than 2,000 children ages 9-14 showed that Triple Play succeeded in getting them to exercise more, eat healthier foods and feel better about themselves. The study found that Triple Play kids increased to 90 percent of the federally recommended amount of daily exercise, which is 60 minutes a day for children, while their peers outside the program decreased to 78 percent. To date, Triple Play has helped more than one million kids learn the importance of physical activity and proper nutrition. In 2011, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation joined BGCA and Coca-Cola as a Triple Play sponsor. Learn more about the program at www.bgca.org/tripleplay.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of America

For more than 100 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (www.bgca.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, nearly 4,000 Boys & Girls Clubs serve some 4 million children and teens through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native American lands throughout the country and on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority programs emphasize academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 57 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta.

About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation

Through charitable grant making, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation LLC, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, promotes Anthem’s inherent commitment to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield serves. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets specific disease states and medical conditions. These include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company’s annual associate giving campaign and its parent foundation provides a 50 percent match of associates’ campaign pledges. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of Community Insurance Company, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Additional information about Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio is available at www.anthem.com. Also, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/healthjoinin, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HealthJoinIn, or visit our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/healthjoinin.