Children from New Mexico to New York Learn How to Eat Healthy and Stay Fit with the General Mills Champions for Healthy Kids Program

The Champions for Healthy Kids grants program is a partnership ofthe General Mills Foundation, the American Dietetic AssociationFoundation and the President's Challenge. Since 2002, the program hasinvested more than $8 million in youth nutrition and fitness programsthat have served over 150,000 children across the country.

Each of this year's 50 nonprofit groups, schools or governmentorganizations will receive a grant of $10,000 to help bolster new orcurrent programming. The programs serve a cross section of childrencutting across racial, geographic and economic lines. They include:

-- The THINK for Student Health program in Santa Ana, Calif., which will introduce a nutrition and fitness curriculum to after-school programs serving 2,000 primarily Spanish-speaking elementary school students living in poverty. The program will provide skills for eating nutritionally balanced foods and incorporating daily physical activities into the lives of these students, many of whom can't afford to participate in organized sports and receive limited nutritional training at home.

-- The Color Me Healthy Curriculum, developed by the University of Arkansas for the Medical Sciences Head Start Program in Little Rock. Recognizing that 38 percent of Arkansas children are overweight, the program, will expose preschool children and their parents to healthier lifestyles by adding more fruits and vegetables to their diets, drinking more water, controlling portions, choosing healthy snacks and increasing physical activity through an hour of active play every day and aerobics.

-- The ReCharge Western Kentucky! Program uses fun, interactive team-based activities and goal-setting to teach third- through sixth-graders in rural Kentucky how to develop good nutrition and physical fitness habits.

-- The Go the Extra Mile-Cleveland program in St. Paul, Minn., will introduce nutrition and fitness education to children from Cleveland Middle School, many of whom are recent immigrants from refugee camps in Thailand or who have fled their countries because of political unrest. The program will help them exercise more and introduce them to a variety of nutritious food choices.

"We are inspired by the passion, creativity and drive of thesegrassroots programs that are making an impact in their communities byhelping children and teens learn how to eat better and become morephysically active," said Ellen Goldberg Luger, executive director ofthe General Mills Foundation and a General Mills vice president. "Weknow from numerous studies that a child's diet and level of activityaffects his or her school performance, mental and emotional well-being and long-term physical health."

The grant recipients are required to incorporate a fitness andnutrition component in their program, and operate with the guidance ofa dietetic professional. Using its resources and expertise onnutrition issues, the American Dietetic Association Foundation plays acritical role in evaluating the grant proposals.

An additional component of the Champions for Healthy Kids programincludes sponsorship of the Presidential Active Lifestyle Awards(PALA), as well as the development of nutrition and fitness mentoringmodels. For example, the General Mills Foundation supports the PALAprogram in Minneapolis Public Schools, where this year, some 8,500second- through eighth-graders earned the PALA award for completingthe six-week fitness program.

Information on the General Mills Champions program, grantapplications, best practices and model programs that can be adopted byany organization are available at www.generalmills.com/foundation.Additional information on the Presidential Active Lifestyle Awards canbe found at www.presidentschallenge.org

The General Mills Foundation, celebrating more than 50 years ofgiving, is a champion for stronger communities. In fiscal 2005,General Mills awarded $78 million to communities across the country,representing more than 5 percent of company pretax profits that year.Of the total, the Foundation contributed more than $20 million ingrants in the targeted areas of youth nutrition and fitness, socialservices, education, and arts and culture. General Mills recentlyranked number 14 on the Business Ethics magazine list of the 100 bestcorporate citizens. In 2005, Business Week named the company one ofthe nation's "most generous cash givers" for corporate philanthropy.

The American Dietetic Association Foundation is the philanthropicarm of American Dietetic Association. It is a 501(c)(3) charitydevoted exclusively to nutrition and dietetics. The Foundation fundsscholarships and awards, education and research projects, and ADAstrategic initiatives that promote optimal nutrition health andwell-being of the public. It is the largest provider of scholarshipsand awards in the field of dietetics.

2006 GENERAL MILLS CHAMPIONS FOR HEALTHY KIDS
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GRANT RECIPIENTS (listed by state):
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Nonprofit Organization/School Program City State
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O'Rourke Elementary School Healthy Kids: A Mobile AL
Family Affair
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University of Arkansas Foundation University of Little Rock AR
Arkansas for
Medical Sciences
Head Start/Early
Head Start
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YMCA of Metropolitan Tucson Partners for Tucson AZ
Healthy Active
Children,
Companeros Para
Ninos Sanos y
Activos
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Generations Community Wellness Healthy Hawks San Jose CA
Centers, Inc.
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Smart Start Child Development SALUD! - Compre, Ojai CA
Center Cocine, Coma /
HEALTH! - Buy,
Cook, Eat -
Nutrition
Workshops for
Parents
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Stanford University Board of Healthy Weight Palo Alto CA
Trustees Healthy Futures:
A parent-to-
parent cross-
training model
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Strategic Health Communications ENRG Campaign Santa Cruz CA
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THINK Together THINK for Student Santa Ana CA
Health
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Metro Community Provider Network, Health Nuts (HN) Englewood CO
Inc. (MCPN)
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DC Department of Health/DC WIC Fruit and Fitness Washington DC
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Lutheran Social Services of Second Harvest Jacksonville FL
Northeast Florida, Inc. Food Bank Kids
Cafe - Feeding
Body & Mind
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Boys & Girls Club of Bulloch Eating Right and Statesboro GA
County, Inc. Keeping Fit in
the Boro
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Soccer in the Streets Positive-Choice Atlanta GA
Soccer
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East Side Health District GET SMART AT East St. IL
EDGEMONT Louis
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University of Illinois Foundation College of Chicago IL
Nursing
McAuliffe
Champions
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Clarian Health Partners, Inc. Committed to Kids Indianapolis IN
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Memorial Health System, Inc. Fit WIC Activity South Bend IN
Kit: Play Time
Tricks and Carrot
Sticks
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Purdue University-Purdue We Can! Enhancing Indianapolis IN
Extension-Marion County Children's
Activity &
Nutrition
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Healthy Schools, Inc. ReCharge Western Louisville KY
Kentucky!
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Paducah Park Services Paducah Park Paducah KY
Services
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Pendleton County Education Take 10! Falmouth KY
Foundation, Inc.
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Salisbury State University Healthy Kids, Salisbury MD
Foundation, Inc. (Lower Shore Healthy You:
Child Care Resource Center) Promoting Healthy
Habits in Child
Care
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YMCA of Grand Rapids Healthy U Grand Rapids MI
Nutrition
Carnivals
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Cleveland Junior High School GO THE EXTRA St. Paul MN
MILE-
CLEVELAND
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Community Foundation of Northwest Get Healthy NOW! Hernando MS
Mississippi, Inc. My Life, My
Health, My Choice
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Oxford Elementary School Trek Across Oxford MS
America
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Bladen Lakes Primary School Five a Day, in Elizabethtown NC
Every Way!
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Middle Fork Elementary School Middle Fork Walkertown NC
Mariners Walking
And Wellness
Program
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Abrazos Family Support Services Sandoval County Bernalillo NM
Health Commons
Family Support
Program
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New York and Presbyterian Healthy Schools New York NY
Hospitals Healthcare System, Inc. in Motion (HSM)
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New York City Health and Jacobi Medical Bronx NY
Hospitals Corp Center Family
Weight Management
Program
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New York State Federation of Movimeinto y Hyde Park NY
Growers' and Processors' Alegria -
Association, Inc. Movement and Joy
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Yeled V'Yalda Early Childhood Healthy Families, Brooklyn NY
Center, Inc. Healthy Kids
Program
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YMCA of Dutchess County Project F.A.A.N. Poughkeepsie NY
(Fostering
Adolescent
Activity and
Nutrition)
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Cleveland Heights-University SMART! (Students Cleveland OH
Heights City School District: Making A Heights
Monticello Middle School Realistic
Transformation)!
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Ohio Department of Health Healthy Ohioans- Columbus OH
Buckeye Best
Healthy Schools
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Tulsa Public Schools It's All About Tulsa OK
Kids!
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Glade Run Lutheran Services Fitness for Life Zelienople PA
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WellFit, Inc. Wellsville, Inc. Erie PA
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Partners for Active Living Move More, Eat Spartanburg SC
Smart
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South Carolina Department of Kids In Motion North SC
Health and Environmental Control Charleston
Region 7
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YMCA of Anderson South Carolina Anderson YMCA Anderson SC
Afterschool & Day
Camp Program
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Cannon County Board of Education Cannon County Woodbury TN
CATCH (Children,
Adults Together
Choose Health)
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The Children's Shelter Healthy Change San Antonio TX
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South Plains Food Bank Kids Cafe Five Lubbock TX
Minute Fitness
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Charles City Elementary School Be Healthy for Charles City VA
Life
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Community Improvement Council, "I Am Moving, I Danville VA
Inc. - Head Start Am Learning"
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Oak Harbor Middle School Hip-2-Be-Fit Oak Harbor WA
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YMCA of Wenatchee Valley Youth & Teen Wenatchee WA
Center Exercise
Extreme
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Friends of Troy Gardens, Inc. Project Grow! Madison WI
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