Press Release

Springdale, AR
February 12, 2004

Contact: Jan Huneycutt Lightner - 479.361.4624
Suzanne Ward - 479.361.4624

The board of directors of CommunityCare Foundation announced a gift of $67,500 to Kids for Health under the foundation's new School-Based Lifestyles Initiative. The grant will be used to deliver health education in Benton County public elementary schools, to translate select materials into Spanish, and to professionally produce additional video curriculum.

Suzanne Ward, executive director at CommunityCare Foundation, stated, "We spent a year looking at the most critical healthcare needs in northwest Arkansas. In one way or another, everyone was spending a lot of time and money trying to counteract the costly consequences of not making good choices in the first placeÑchoices about tobacco use, substance abuse, inactivity, poor eating habits, and stress. We believe educating young children can help prevent costly chronic disorders and disease, so what better thing can we do than to partner with an organization that knows how to effectively educate children about making good choices?"

Kids for Health's health education curriculum meets state-mandated requirements and is on the Arkansas Department of Education Off-List for Instructional Textbook Materials. To date, the innovative, hands-on video curriculum is taught in 65 elementary schools across Arkansas. The curriculum is research-based and is statistically validated. To ensure success, Kids for Health provides training, support, and supervision to schools using the curriculum.

For more information about CommunityCare Foundation, Inc. and its new strategic grantmaking initiatives, log on to www.ccfound.org. Kids for Health information may be obtained by calling their office at 479-756-9551.

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