The Green Bay Packers and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield are teaming up to bring health tips and stories from the Packers to fourth grade classrooms across the state.
Today, the two organizations announced that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield will serve as the presenting sponsor of the Green Bay Packers’ Fit Kids program. Fit Kids is a free year-long fourth grade curriculum for public schools in Wisconsin designed to promote healthy living by focusing on the physical, nutritional and social aspects of good health.
Each month, a new topic is explored, including: Get Together, Get Out, Get Fueled, Get Cooking, Get Moving, Get Bendy, Get Happy and Get Fit. Green Bay Packers players kick off each new section with a video encompassing the theme for that month, in addition to appearing on various posters and program materials.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield will work with the Packers to raise awareness of the program and advance its adoption in classrooms across the state.
“We are thrilled to partner with the Green Bay Packers – the league’s only community-owned team – to promote health and wellness in our local communities across Wisconsin,” said Larry Schreiber, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “Through Fit Kids we hope to help kids learn the importance of playing and eating right so they can live their longest, healthiest lives possible.”
Fit Kids was developed in 2004 by several educators in the Green Bay Area Public School District, with support from the Green Bay Packers, CBS 5 WFRV-TV and the Karma Group. Several other districts adopted the program for the 2005-06 school year and in 2006-07 the program rolled out statewide.
Currently in its eighth year, Fit Kids has been adopted by over 315 public school districts in the state, with thousands of students receiving the benefit of the successful curriculum. Within these districts, the program has been incorporated by fourth-grade classroom teachers, physical education teachers and school nurses, and integrated into their lessons as they chose.
“Fit Kids is a unique program that helps kids learn the importance of getting and staying healthy directly from our players,” said Cathy Dworak, manager of Community Outreach & Player/Alumni Relations for the Packers. “We are excited to work with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield on Fit Kids because, like the Packers, they have a proud tradition and longstanding commitment to serving the people of Wisconsin.”
The partnership comes at a time when childhood health is on the decline.
“Childhood obesity has tripled since 1980,” said Dr. Michael Jaeger, medical director for Anthem. “This means that if we don’t start teaching our kids about healthy lifestyles they are going to face lifelong challenges such as heart disease and diabetes in far greater numbers than previous generations. It is a very serious problem and one that requires our entire state to focus on helping kids get off to a healthy start.”
The illustration in this article was drawn by Joseph Szabo.
Information used in this article was retrieved from prnewswire.com.
