Boys and Girls clubs receive grants to promote healthy eating and active lifestyle

The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation announced that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Elko Boys & Girls Club (Elko, Nev.) will both receive a $10,000 start-up grant to implement Triple Play programming. Additionally, Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows (Reno, Nev.) and Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada (Carson, Nev.) 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.

“Changes in eating habits and lifestyles have resulted in a generation of kids and teens that are less healthy than their parents were at the same age,” said Mike Murphy, President and General Manager of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada. “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 the 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. The 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 Truckee Meadows and Western Nevada clubs and Healthy Habits grants to the Mason Valley and Las Vegas clubs.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is committed to improving the health of Nevada communities. Through its State Health Index – a collection of public health data – and Healthy Generations grant program, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield 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 Nevada
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service, Inc. HMO products underwritten by HMO Colorado, Inc., dba HMO Nevada. Independent licensees of the Blue Cross and 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 Blue Shield Association. Additional information about Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada 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.