Hall of Fame golfer Annika Sorenstam recently celebrated her 40th birthday. To honor one of her greatest passions, the ANNIKA Foundation hosted an online giving campaign asking participants for a $40 donation to continue the mission of her foundation - teaching children the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle through fitness and nutrition. With the gifts made in Annika's honor and a match from the ANNIKA Foundation, a $4,000 grant will be awarded to ROCK, Reduce Obesity in Central Florida Kids, to fund the development of an interactive, informative website to foster collaboration and dialog among businesses, healthcare organizations and residents of Orange, Brevard, Osceola and Seminole counties.
"I am proud to sponsor programs that are fighting childhood obesity in the Central Florida community," said Annika. "The ROCK website will be a place to find resources for getting healthy and staying healthy." The website will include data about the trends and implications of childhood obesity in the local community, tools to understand Body Mass Index, recipes that outline healthy choices and a calendar of events that promote healthy living.
"ROCK - the consortium to Reduce Obesity in Central Florida Kids - is thrilled to move forward with the support of the Annika Foundation," said Program Director, Shawna Kelsch. "The need to address childhood obesity is especially great in Central Florida where many communities have higher-than-average rates of children diagnosed either as overweight or obese. " ROCK believes this avoidable epidemic can be prevented through collaborative community action that fosters necessary social change. The mission of ROCK is to ensure children living in East Central Florida have healthy lifestyles that eliminate their risk for childhood obesity. More information about the initiative can be found at www.hcecf.org.
