[August 18, 2014]

WellPoint Foundation Presents Boys & Girls Clubs of America with First Health Champion Award

The WellPoint Foundation announced that Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is the recipient of its first-ever Health Champion Award, which recognizes the organization for the demonstrated success of its signature health and wellness program, "Triple Play (News - Alert)."

The Health Champion Award was designed to recognize an individual or organization making a positive impact on the health and wellness of the country. Health Champions create top-tier programs that bring awareness to health issues, help find solutions to those issues or innovate in the field of health care.

During the past three years, the WellPoint Foundation has partnered with BGCA and co-sponsor The Coca-Cola Company on the Triple Play Program and its ongoing efforts to promote healthy, active lifestyles, while combating the growing rate of childhood obesity among our nation's youth. The award was presented at the final stop of Triple Play's 'Million Minutes in Motion' mobile tour in Atlanta on Friday, where hundreds of kids and community members gathered to celebrate one million minutes plus of exercise logged across the country this summer.

"Boys & Girls Clubs of America has demonstrated its innovation and commitment to being a Health Champion by encouraging kids to have fun while eating healthier foods, becoming more physically active and feeling better about themselves," said Lance Chrisman, WellPoint Foundation executive director. "We've seen the success of the Triple Play program first-hand and we know it's critical to the future health of our country. That's why we're proud to work with Boys & Girls Clubs of America and excited to present thm the first-ever Health Champion Award."

With more than 3 out of 10 young people considered obese or overweight, early education and active programming for youth is even more critical. Since its inception in 2005, Triple Play has made more than 9.2 million connections with kids to share the importance of physical activity and proper nutrition through the program's three key components focused on mind, body and soul.

A study of more than 2,000 children ages 9-14 showed that Triple Play succeeded in getting them to exercise more and eat healthier foods. Kids who participated in Triple Play got 90 percent of the federally recommended amount of daily exercise, while their peers outside the program got 78 percent. The program continues to grow, providing more programming for kids and Clubs each year.

"Thank you to WellPoint Foundation for honoring us in this way. Each day we are focused on building an environment that creates healthy lifestyles for our kids and the Triple Play program is a huge part of this mission. We are proud to impact millions of kids each year, and we hope to grow our programs and practices to get more kids more active, more often," said Jim Clark, president and CEO Boys & Girls Clubs of America. "We are grateful for WellPoint's support over the last three years, and look forward to creating great futures for our Club kids through the Triple Play program."

About WellPoint Foundation

The WellPoint Foundation is the philanthropic arm of WellPoint, Inc. and through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes the inherent commitment of WellPoint, Inc. to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that WellPoint, Inc. and its affiliated health plans serve. 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 disease states and medical conditions 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 provides a 50 percent match of associates' campaign pledges. To learn more about the WellPoint Foundation, please visit www.wellpointfoundation.org and its blog at http://wellpointfoundation.tumblr.com.

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