CHICAGO and DALLAS, April 10, 2006 --YMCA of the USA announced today Kimberly-Clark Corporation's (NYSE: KMB) generous gift of $3 million in support to America's YMCAs over the next two years. This new support represents a shared commitment to YMCA Activate America™, the YMCA's national public health initiative combating obesity and chronic disease, and seeking to make healthy living a reality for millions of Americans. As a National Sponsor of YMCA of the USA since 2001, this contribution extends Kimberly-Clark's partnership with the YMCA to 6 years and brings the company's total donations to nearly $12 million.
"Kimberly-Clark was one of the first corporations to support YMCA Activate America. This latest gift further demonstrates their strong commitment to America's collective health and wellness through this important public health initiative," said Sam Evans of the YMCA of the USA. "Kimberly-Clark has been a devoted ally in assisting YMCAs in their work to impact Americans' health as we have designed and implemented this initiative to help American families overcome obstacles to healthy living."
Supporting Family Health through YMCA Activate America
Launched in 2004, YMCA Activate America is an ambitious public health initiative that leverages the YMCA's national network of YMCAs and commitment to healthy living to address the national health crisis related to poor nutrition and lack of physical activity among millions of Americans, especially children and youth. YMCA Activate America seeks to make healthy living a reality for millions of Americans by: helping YMCAs better support "Health Seekers" and their families - individuals who continually try but are unable to sustain a commitment to healthy living; helping YMCAs to reduce community barriers and increase community supports for healthy living; and helping YMCAs collaborate across public, private and not-for-profit sectors to make an impact on the nation's health crisis, in which approximately 60 million adults are obese and more than 9 million youth ages 6-19 are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"As a company focused on improving the health, hygiene and well-being of people around the world, Kimberly-Clark is proud to support the YMCA and its Activate America public health initiative," said Thomas J. Falk, chairman and CEO of Kimberly-Clark Corporation. "YMCAs serve more than 20 million Americans. Through Activate America, there is potential to have a truly meaningful impact on the health of millions more both inside and outside the walls of the nation's YMCAs."
Kimberly-Clark: Proud National Sponsor of YMCA Activate America
Through the national Activate America initiative, YMCAs are working to transform their organizations and lead community-wide efforts to make healthy living a reality for millions of Americans. As National Sponsor of YMCA Activate America, Kimberly-Clark is supporting several key components of the initiative:
- Kimberly-Clark increases its funding for the organizational transformation component of YMCA Activate America, which is dramatically improving the way YMCAs work directly with Health Seekers and their families, as well as with children and youth in YMCA afterschool child care programs. Ultimately, the best practices developed in the formative stage of this organizational transformation effort will be spread to the more than 2,500 YMCAs across the country. Experts at Harvard University's School of Public Health and Stanford University's School of Medicine are helping to shape, guide and evaluate this component of Activate America.
- Kimberly-Clark continues its support as a national sponsor of YMCA Healthy Kids® Day, an annual grassroots community event designed to celebrate healthy living, encourage kids and families to get excited about physical fun and activity and, most importantly, engage kids in play to be healthy. In 2005, more than 500,000 Americans participated in YMCA Healthy Kids® Day at more than 1,300 local events. This year, 1,420 YMCAs are participating in this key component of YMCA Activate America.
- Kimberly-Clark is supporting health and wellness initiatives at local YMCAs, contributing 30 "Kimberly-Clark Everyday Healthy Day Grants" totaling $300,000 each year to YMCAs participating in the Activate America initiative. These grants will help YMCAs develop programs to positively impact the physical health and wellness of their local communities' residents.
- Kimberly-Clark was a national presenting sponsor of the 2005 Pioneering Healthier Communities project, a community leadership strategy of YMCA Activate America that brings together YMCA-led teams of local stakeholders from public, private and government sectors to design and implement strategies that promote healthy living in their local communities.
Committed to enhancing the health, hygiene and well-being of people every day, Kimberly-Clark provides charitable funding to organizations and programs that provide vital information, resources and services that strengthen today's families; involve parents and others in activities that help children grow physically, mentally and socially; and develop creative, caring options to cope with the issues facing our older relatives.
YMCAs have long been at the forefront of efforts to serve the health and wellness of individuals and communities. YMCA Activate America is meant to build on the long history and service of meeting community and individual needs. YMCAs are collectively one of the largest providers of health and wellness programs and activities in the country, serving more than 10,000 communities and neighborhoods nationwide. They are also collectively the largest provider of child care, afterschool and youth sports programs and are working to incorporate physical activity into all aspects of youth, family and community programming.
About YMCA Activate America
YMCA Activate America builds upon the YMCA's 150-year track record of pioneering efforts that respond to timely societal needs - in this case, America's health crisis. Launched in 2004, Activate America is an ambitious public health initiative that seeks to make healthy living a reality for millions of Americans by directly helping individuals and families live healthier lives, and by helping YMCAs lead their communities and the nation to reduce barriers and increase supports for healthy living. Expert advisors to the YMCA on this initiative include: Harvard University School of Public Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Steps to a HealthierUS, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Active Living by Design, the Chronic Disease Directors and others. Visit ymca.net/activateamerica.
About Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Kimberly-Clark and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 150 countries. Every day, 1.3 billion people-almost a quarter of the world's population-trust Kimberly-Clark brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds the No. 1 or No. 2 share position in more than 80 countries. To learn more about the company's 134-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com.
About the YMCA
YMCAs build strong kids, strong families and strong communities. YMCA of the USA is the national resource office for the nation's 2,594 YMCAs, collectively the nation's largest not-for-profit community service organization, serving more than 20 million people of all faiths, races, ages, incomes and abilities, including more than 9 million youth. YMCAs offer a broad range of programs including youth leadership and volunteerism and are collectively the nation's largest providers of afterschool child care. Visit ymca.net.