Health and Wellness Grant Awarded to Boys & Girls Club of Dayton

The Gamesroom is a place with in a Boys & Girls Club where members are able to take part in a wide variety of games and activities and can socialize with their friends. It is the most utilized program area in the Boys & Girls Club and as a result takes a lot of wear and tear.

The renovation of the new room is made possible locally through the support of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and includes areas where kids and teens can participate in educational activities that teach them social skills that enable them to relate to others effectively and how to contribute in positive ways to the culture around them.  

"Giving kids a safe, appropriate place to socialize with friends and grow through games is absolutely central to their overall health," said Anthem East Region President Erin Hoeflinger. "The Boys and Girls Club plays such a vital role in kids' development, it's a perfect fit with our foundation's Healthy Generations initiative and we're proud to support several of their programs."

While the Gamesroom is a flurry of activity, with a number of different games happening at the same time, it is positive environment where character development, teamwork and conflict-resolution lessons are occurring as part of the Club's Triple Play program.

Triple Play is Boys & Girls Clubs of America's signature health and wellness program focused on the mind, body and soul to teach kids and teens about living a healthy lifestyle. Since 2005, Triple Play has made connections with more than 10 million youth around the country.

"We must do everything possible to provide a state-of-the art environment where kids and teens can learn and develop the leadership and social skills needed to be great inside and outside of the Club. This new Gamesroom will help our Club members develop social and emotional wellbeing, a key component to achieving success in working with others and a great future," said Natasha R. Spears Boys & Girls Club of Dayton Chief Executive Officer. "We're very excited about the improvements and we thank Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield for their commitment to our Boys & Girls Club and the Dayton community."

Social recreation is essential to the healthy development of children and teens. Through the Triple Play program, Boys & Girls Clubs are influencing the next generation of leaders who are socially and morally sound.

 An evaluation conducted by Youth Development Strategies, Inc. in 2009 found that the Triple Play program has improved youth's interactions with peers at the Club. The study also proved that Triple Play helps both youth who start with good quality peer relationships and those who start with poor ones improve social interaction.

About Triple Play
Sponsored by The Anthem Foundation and The Coca-Cola Company, Triple Play is Boys & Girls Clubs of America's signature health and wellness program. Triple Play began in 2005 and focuses on nutrition and health education, access to healthy meals, and teaching youth how to commit to fitness as well as positive relationship building and self-confidence elements. Learn more about the program at www.bgca.org/tripleplay.

About Boys & Girls Club of Dayton
Established in 1930, with the mission to inspire and enable all young people; especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as caring, productive, responsible citizens, the Boys & Girls Club of Dayton (BGCD) provides daily afterschool and all day summer programs to children in grades K through 12, getting them off the streets during the most dangerous time of the day, between 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. At the Boys & Girls Club children can spend their non-school hours surrounded by caring adults and engaged in enriching, age appropriate youth development activities. Learn more about the Club at www.bgcdayton.org.

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 year-round  Annual Giving program and its parent foundation provides a 50 percent match of associates' 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.

SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Related Links

http://www.bgca.org