See Donation Dollars In Action
Pep rally gets students ready to run: ING teams with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons' Keith Brooking to tackle childhood obesity
MAY 1, 2008
In preparation for the 2008 ING Georgia Marathon, ING partnered with King Middle School to host an ING Run For Something Better® pep rally for 170 enthusiastic students, coaches and administrators participating in the program. Television news anchor Donna Lowry emceed the lively event and was joined by special guest and ING Run For Something Better® spokesman, Keith Brooking of the Atlanta Falcons.
“It’s so easy to burn hours in front of the TV or the computer,” Brooking told students at the rally. “I commend you for your dedication and what you’ve accomplished so far — it took a lot of determination to get to this point. I challenge you to make Sunday’s race the beginning, not the end — you’ve put yourself on track for a healthy, active lifestyle. Finish what you’ve started.”
Brooking practiced what he preached and ran with the students for their last 1.2 miles during the ING Run For Something Better® culminating event during the ING Georgia Marathon.
As an education reporter, Lowry said she has recently done seven or eight stories about childhood obesity: “It’s a huge concern … Georgia has put so much focus on academics, as we try to improve in that area, that schools are really struggling to provide adequate physical fitness opportunities.”
“ING provides a great program with the Run For Something Better,” Lowry continued. “You’re giving much-needed structure, support, and guidance to the schools — not to mention the students and their young parents, many of which are from a generation that was not active themselves.”
“Run For Something Better — ING couldn’t have named this program any more perfectly,” Billette Owens-Ashford, director of Health, Phys Ed and Athletics for Atlanta Public Schools, told the 170 students gathered at King Middle. “You’re running for better health, better fitness and a better life. And thank you to the ING family for including the Atlanta Public Schools in this great program.”
Interim Principal Francine Greer at Atlanta’s King Middle School nicely summed up this mutually beneficial relationship at a recent Run For Something Better event: “I invest my money in ING; thank you for investing in our children.”