6/12/2008

Eighteen L.A. Area Schools named Finalists in Fitness Competition
75 schools state-wide to be considered for three $100,000 grand prizes

Los Angeles, Calif. – Jake Steinfeld, Chairman of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, announced today that eighteen Los Angeles area schools and 75 schools state-wide have been named finalists in the Council’s 2008 Governor’s Challenge Competition. Each of the school finalists is under consideration for one of the competition’s three grand prizes – brand new fitness centers valued at $100,000. Additionally, one Bay Area school will be named a Regional Award winner and receive $5,000 for new physical activity equipment. Grand Prize and Regional Award winners will be announced at a special ceremony at the Capitol in September. The eighteen Los Angeles Area schools finalists are:

• Bradoaks Elementary in Monrovia
• CHIME Middle Charter in Chatsworth
• Daniel Webster Elementary in Pasadena
• Elizabeth Learning Center in Cudahy
• Emerson Parkside Academy Charter in Long Beach
• Kenter Canyon Elementary in Brentwood
• Larchmont Charter in Los Angeles
• Los Altos Elementary in Hacienda Heights
• Marvin Elementary in Mid-City Los Angeles
• NEW Academy Canoga Park in Canoga Park
• Plymouth Elementary in Monrovia
• Ranch Hills Elementary in Pomona
• Resurrection School in Boyle Heights
• Roscomare Road Elementary in Bel Air
• San Jose Edison Academy in West Covina
• Sixty Eighth Street Elementary in Athens Heights
• Utah Street Elementary in Boyle Heights
• Welby Way Elementary in West Hills

School finalists were chosen based on results of the 2008 Governor’s Challenge Competition, a state-wide fitness contest among k-12 schools that promotes increased physical activity and better health among California’s youth.

Throughout the state, more than 160,000 children accepted the 2008 Governor’s Challenge and pledged to be active 30-60 minutes a day, 3 days a week for a month - this compares to 69,000 students who accepted the Governor’s Challenge in ’07. Cumulatively, student participants in the 2008 Governor’s Challenge recorded more than 3 million active days.

Over the next couple of months the Governor’s Council will be reviewing how each of the Competition’s school finalists supported physical activity and good nutrition on their campus in order to help determine its awardees.

“I’m thrilled that so many schools around the state have been going the extra mile to help students get active and fit. I’m a big believer that healthy bodies lead to healthy minds and I can’t wait to reward these schools for their leadership in this area,” said Steinfeld.

“I’m also thrilled that our Council has been able to promote physical activity and fitness without adding any burden on California taxpayers,” said Steinfeld. “Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, like Anthem Blue Cross Foundation, Longs Drugs and General Mills, we were able to encourage a record number of California children and teachers to take the Governor’s Challenge this year. In fact, thanks to our sponsors, our Governor’s Challenge attracted more than twice the amount of participants in California this year as a similar effort led by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports attracted nationally.”

Anthem Blue Cross Foundation is a founding sponsor of the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and the title sponsor of the Governor’s Council Spotlight Awards that fund the Competition’s three grand prize fitness centers. Longs Drugs sponsors the Governor’s Council Activity Guide and funds the Governor’s Challenge Competition Regional Awards. General Mills’ sponsorship funds the Certificates of Completion and patches of the Council seal for which students completing the Governor’s Challenge qualify. Partners of the Governor’s Council include iTech Fitness, which helps design and build the fitness center awards, 24 Hour Fitness which provides free passes to students and teachers taking the Governor’s Challenge, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area which provides free lift tickets to middle school students taking the Governor’s Challenge, the Network for a Healthy California and Paramount Farms.

Research shows that regular physical activity during childhood and adolescence helps build healthier bones and muscles, increases self-esteem, and reduces the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Research also shows a connection between students’ levels of physical fitness and their academic performance.

About the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
The California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting physical activity for all Californians with an emphasis on children and youth. Governor Schwarzenegger is the Honorary Chairman and Council members include Chairman Jake Steinfeld, Vice Chairman Peter Vidmar, and California sports legends such as Lisa Fernandez, Julie Foudy, Tony Hawk, Lisa Leslie, Misty May-Treanor, Daron Rahlves and Jerry Rice. Governor’s Council key initiatives include the Governor’s Challenge, the Governor’s Council Spotlight Awards presented by the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation, the Governor’s Council Activity Guide presented by Longs Drugs, the Live Like a Champion Tour powered by Anthem Blue Cross and Exercise is Medicine. Founding sponsors are Applied Materials, Anthem Blue Cross Foundation and Kaiser Permanente. For more information visit www.CalGovCouncil.org

About Anthem Blue Cross Foundation
Through charitable grant making, the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation promotes Anthem Blue Cross’s inherent commitment to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that the company serves. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative solutions to reduce the number of uninsured as well as organizations and nonprofit charities that promote 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 Anthem Blue Cross Foundation is an affiliate of the WellPoint Foundation. To learn more about the WellPoint Foundation please visit www.wellpointfoundation.org.

About Longs Drugs Headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, Longs Drug Stores Corporation (NYSE: LDG) is one of the most recognized retail drug store chains on the West Coast and in Hawaii. The Company operates 510 retail pharmacies and offers a wide assortment of merchandise focusing on health, wellness, beauty and convenience. Longs also provides pharmacy benefit management services and Medicare beneficiary prescription drug plans through its wholly-owned subsidiary, RxAmerica, LLC. Additional information about Longs and its services is available at http://www.longs.com and more information about RxAmerica is available at http://www.rxamerica.com.

About General Mills
General Mills, with annual net sales of $13.4 billion, is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of consumer foods products based in Minneapolis. General Mills' mission is Nourishing Lives – innovating to make lives healthier, easier, and richer – while Nourishing Communities and Nourishing the Future. Its global brand portfolio includes Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, Old El Paso and more. With more than 100 consumer brands and operations in more than 100 countries, General Mills is also a leading supplier of baking and other food products to the foodservice and commercial baking industries. In fiscal 2007, General Mills awarded $82 million to communities across the country, representing more than 5 percent of company pretax profits that year.