New Balance Athletics Inc.

Contact: Madison Florence

New Balance Foundation 860-899-9309
100 Guest Street florencm@simmons.edu
Boston , MA 02135
3/18/2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
With $2.55 million from New Balance, Child Obesity 180 Plans to Decrease Child Obesity
BOSTON March 18, 2016 The New Balance Foundation, Child Obesity 180 at Tufts University, and the
100 Mile Club have created the New Balance Foundation Billion Mile Race to increase physical activity
for children with the help of a billion dollar donation from the New Balance Foundation The program
targets elementary school children and sets them up to have an active lifestyle. Each student who signs
up for the 100 Mile Club is encouraged to reach 100 miles during the school year through participation
in walking, jogging and running clubs at school. Students of all abilities are encouraged to participate to
help the program reach one billion collective miles. Pre-registration is done online at
www.billionmilerace.org.
Supporting charitable programs that work toward the betterment of children is central to our
mission, and the prevention of childhood obesity is at the heart of this focus, said Anne Davis, vice chair
and executive vice president of administration at New Balance.
This program will be using $2.55 million from the New Balance Foundation to fund the various
expenses. This money was contributed to the New Balance Foundation Billion Mile Race by the New
Balance Foundation to continue their mission of the improvement of childrens lives.
The New Balance Foundation and 100 Mile Club have been tremendous sponsors for
ChildObesity 180 and were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with them on this new program,
says Christina D. Economos PhD, vice chair and director of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts
University.
This initiative has become relevant as recent statistics show alarming increases in obesity rates
since 1980. For 2-to 5-year-olds the rates have doubled. 11-year olds have seen rates quadruple and 12-
to 19-year-olds have seen rates triple. 42% of US children between the ages of six and eleven do not get
60 minutes of exercise a day.
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