Press Release: Rachel Ray's Yum-O! Organization Partners with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to Improve How American Families Eat
President Bill Clinton on the Rachael Ray show to discuss the epidemic of childhood obesity; joined by Nickelodeon and the Alliance’s Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challengers.
Emmy-nominated daytime host Rachael Ray today announced the launch of her Yum-o! Organization’s partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation – a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association – to educate and empower families across America to make healthier food choices by providing them with the tools and information they need to transform their eating habits.
Rachael Ray’s Yum-o! Organization and the Alliance are committed to using their combined reach, resources, and credibility to enable kids and their parents to take control of their meals and to ensure healthier food choices are available for families of all income levels in homes, communities and schools.
“A huge part of the obesity problem is that kids and their families are pressed for time and many don’t know how to cook or assemble basic, healthy meals,” said Ray. “And it just feels easier to pick-up inexpensive, unhealthy food from the drive-through. But parents from all walks of life and incomes have told me they are willing and eager to make better food choices for their families if given the right tools and know-how. I am absolutely thrilled to be working with the Alliance to make this happen.”
“Rachael Ray is a trusted voice in today’s homes and has the power to reach families, to listen to their concerns about health and nutrition, and to influence what they are eating both at school and at home,” said Robert Harrison, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. “Together, we will counter the myth that healthy food is expensive and build a broader movement in America to help kids live long and healthy lives.”
The Yum-o!-Alliance partnership goals are threefold: educate kids and parents to make better food choices; engage parents to make a difference in the health of their kids schools; and encourage kids to take the Go Healthy Challenge so that they can take control of their health.
To help achieve these goals, Ray will serve as the Alliance’s “Parental Ambassador,” providing the information and inspiration parents need to create quick, cost-effective and delicious healthy meals and to get their kids into the kitchen and cooking.
“Working with Rachael Ray we will extend our reach into homes across America,” said Ray Gibbons, president of the American Heart Association. “As a parental ambassador for the Alliance, she will be an important partner in our effort to offer families simple and cost-effective tips for ensuring the health and wellness of their children.”
To launch the partnership, President Clinton will appear on the Rachael Ray Show, Thursday, April 26th to discuss the issue of childhood obesity, as well as the work Rachael’s Yum-o! Organization and the Alliance will do together. Log onto www.Rachaelrayshow.com for local listings.
As a kick-start to the partnership between Rachael Ray’s Yum-o! Organization and the Alliance, the show features Rachael’s visit to West Babylon High School — a member of the Alliance’s Healthy Schools Program — to talk to students, staff and parents about the challenges of providing a healthy lunch.
The April 26th show also features the stars of Nickelodeon and the Alliance’s Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge: Kenderick Scorza from North Little Rock, AR, and April Zhang from Chalfont, PA., which premieres in its second season on Sunday, April 29th, at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Nickelodeon. Kenderick and April share with President Clinton and Rachael why they decided to take the challenge and make their lives healthier, and how they hope to inspire others to do the same.
The Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge is Nickelodeon’s joint initiative, with partner the Alliance for a Healthier Generation that aims to inspire kids to take charge of their health and lead their own movement to make their schools, families and communities healthier. For more information on the Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge, visit www.nick.com/letsjustplay.
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About Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray is the author of more than a dozen cookbooks, including Express Lane Meals and Rachael Ray 2-4-6-8: Cooking for Couples or Crowds, and host of the wildly popular “30 Minute Meals” and “Tasty Travels” shows on the Food Network. She is also the Editor-In-Chief of her own food and lifestyle magazine Every Day With Rachael Ray. Additionally, Ray has a line of knives, cook wear and bedding. In September 2006, “Rachael Ray,” a nationally syndicated daytime show produced by CBS Television Distribution and Harpo Productions, launched as the highest rated syndicated show launch since 2002.
About the Yum-o! Organization
Yum-o! is a non-profit organization that empowers kids and their families to improve their relationship with food and cooking. By providing the tools to create easy, affordable and delicious meals, Yum-o! is changing the way America eats. Yum-o!’s three areas of work include educating kids and their families about cooking, feeding hungry American kids and funding cooking scholarships. Fore more information on the Yum-o! Organization, please visit www.yum-o.org .