Kohl's, Penn State Hershey team up to fight childhood obesity

Kohl's has awarded Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital with $159,039 to support its Healthy Champions program, which teaches children and families the importance of bringing healthy choices to life – starting with eating healthy and getting active.

The Healthy Champions Program, delivered by Penn State Hershey PRO Wellness Center, is an education and awareness initiative designed to teach children and their families how to eat well and engage in regular physical activity. The program uses outreach events – chiefly in schools and through community-based organizations – and a strong web presence to provide tools and resources for making behavior changes. These changes include increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, making better beverage choices, understanding proper portion size, increasing minutes of daily physical activity and recognizing the need to balance calories consumed through food/drink versus calories burned through physical activity and growth.

“Obesity affects one in three children in Pennsylvania. In an effort to reverse this trend, we can encourage and promote lifelong healthy eating and physical activity habits by implementing school health initiatives and promoting healthy habits in the communities we serve,” said Donna Kephart, executive director of the PRO Wellness Center.

Kohl’s commitment to Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital is made possible through the Kohl’s Cares® cause merchandise program. Through this initiative, Kohl's sells $5 books and plush toys, where 100 percent of net profit benefits children's health and education programs nationwide, including hospital partnerships like this one. Kohl’s has raised more than $257 million through this merchandise program. In addition to the merchandise program, Kohl’s Cares® features the Kohl’s Cares® Scholarship Program, which last year recognized more than 2,300 young volunteers with more than $400,000 in scholarships and prizes. Through the Kohl's Associates in Action volunteer program, more than 834,000 associates have donated more than 2.7 million hours of their time since 2001, and Kohl's has donated more than $79 million to youth-focused nonprofit organizations. Kohl's also offers fundraising gift cards for schools and youth-serving organizations. For more information, visit www.Kohls.com/Cares.

If you're having trouble accessing this content, or would like it in another format, please email Penn State Health Marketing & Communications.