Commerce City Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver announced today a new grant award thanks to the support of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation. The grant of $5,000 will support programming for Triple Play, a program aimed at improving the health and wellness of kids. The funding will offer critical support for Club kids, providing curriculum and programming to help kids make healthy choices for the mind, body and soul.
“We are very excited and grateful to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation for providing support for our Triple Play program – one of the most popular programs for our kids here at the Club,” said Director of Healthy Lifestyles, Leslie Pickard. “At the Club we are committed to building a healthier future for our kids and our community and Triple Play provides the critical programming that we need to help kids learn about the benefits of being healthy – while getting them excited about being fit, strong and productive adults.”
What happens during a kids’ Out-of-School time can significantly impact their path to a great future. When young people have access to a safe place with caring adult mentors and enriching programs during Out-of-School time, in places like Commerce City Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver great things happen, like a commitment to a healthy lifestyle through programs such as Triple Play.
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 The Coca-Cola Company and co-sponsor, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, the program’s three components encourage Club members to eat healthier (mind), become more physically active (body) and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships (soul).
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation is committed to improving health and strengthening Colorado communities. Through its Healthy Generations grant program, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation works to identify the issues most in need of attention and then directs its financial support and volunteer efforts toward improving health in those areas. Promoting youth health and active lifestyles is an ongoing focus of the foundation.
This grant is part of a 5 year, $10 million commitment from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation’s parent company foundation to Boys & Girls Clubs of America to promote healthy lifestyles. This is the fourth consecutive year Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation has awarded Triple Play grants to Clubs in Colorado.
Boys & Girls Clubs of America believes that all kids deserve a great future. Through the organization’s Great Futures Campaign, Clubs and supporters are working to mobilize our country around the critical issues facing America’s youth. Boys & Girls Clubs are committed to leading the way, assuring that every young person who enters a Club is on track to graduate from high school on time, prepared to succeed in college or a career, demonstrating good character and living a healthy lifestyle.
The Triple Play program motivates kids to be healthy by providing nutrition and health education and more access to healthy foods, and encouraging avoidance of risky behaviors and a lifelong commitment to fitness.
About Triple Play
Triple Play: A healthy lifestyles 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 and with support from The Coca-Cola Company. The goal of Triple Play is 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. Triple Play includes five program components, each of which serves between 20,000 and 500,000 youth annually. Since its inception in 2005, Triple Play has made more than 9.2 million connections with kids across the country. In 2011, the WellPoint 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 (GreatFutures.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,100 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people annually through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun, friendship, 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. Learn more at http://www.bgca.org/facebook and http://bgca.org/twitter.