Treeswing, a Seattle nonprofit, will distribute free jump rope kits to the 4,000 kindergarten students in Seattle Public Schools. The goal is to increase physical activity and combat childhood obesity. Nearly a third of children are overweight or obese, increasing their risk for health problems. Treeswing aims to get kids moving through simple, cost-effective programs like distributing jump ropes. This launch of their JumpUp initiative marks their efforts to bring physical activity back into children's daily lives.

1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tracy Bennett
Executive Director
(425) 466-4748
Helping our kids lead healthy lives tracy@treeswing.org
www.treeswing.org
4,000 Seattle Kindergarteners to Get Free Jump Ropes from Treeswing
Nonprofit gets kids up and moving in campaign against childhood obesity
SEATTLE (Sept. 30, 2008) – Treeswing (www.treeswing.org), a Seattle nonprofit
advocating increased physical activity to combat childhood obesity, announced
today it will distribute a free jump-rope kit to each of the 4,000 kindergarten stu-
dents in the Seattle Public Schools.
The kindergarteners of Seattle’s Dearborn Park Elementary will receive the
first jump ropes at a presentation today that will include individual and tandem
jump-roping demonstrations by Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria
Goodloe-Johnson; the Seattle Mariners Moose; the Seattle Storm’s mascot, Dop-
pler; the Northwest Double Dutch exhibition team; and the students and returning
alumni of Dearborn Park’s Seattle Cirque and Acrobat TeamS.
The announcement marks the launch of Treeswing’s JumpUp initiative,
created in partnership with Seattle Children’s, to give young children increased
opportunities for fun and fitness at school and home.
“The ‘good old days’ when kids walked home from school, had a healthy
snack and then ran outside to play are long gone,” said Treeswing Executive Dir-
ector Tracy Bennett. “Nearly a third of our children and adolescents are over-
weight or obese—that’s more than 25 million kids and teenagers. We’re facing a
very real crisis that threatens the health of not only our children, but our society as
well.”
Obese children are at increased risk of suffering cancer, diabetes, metabolic
syndrome, osteoarthritis, hypertension, fatty liver disease, gallbladder disease,
sleep apnea and impaired balance. They also commonly experience discrimination,
social marginalization, low self-esteem, negative body image and depression.
“Given that 80 percent of overweight children will grow into obese adults,
and that obesity will soon top smoking as the most-preventable cause of death,
something clearly has to be done,” Bennett continued. “Other organizations are tar-
geting the issue of nutrition, but Treeswing is focused on a much simpler, more im-
mediately applicable and cost-effective remedy—we want to get kids up and mov-
ing. The schools are an obvious place for us to start, so we designed the JumpUp
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2. Treeswing JumpUp release
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Sept. 30, 2008
initiative as one way to bring physical activity back into our children’s lives.”
Each jump rope comes with information for parents about the importance of
getting kids to be active from an early age and the risks associated with childhood
obesity. The kit also includes jump-rope songs and games, and students can earn a
Treeswing “Top-Notch Jumper” certificate by logging their jumping activity on a
JumpUp Challenge calendar.
JumpUp is the second major Treeswing initiative to be launched with Seattle
Public Schools this year. As part of its Get Fit—Get Smart! partnership with the
district, Treeswing is sponsoring the implementation of Seattle Public Schools’
new K-12 physical-education curriculum. The curriculum, which promotes lifetime
wellness by teaching children how to make healthy eating and activity choices, is
being introduced in 10 schools this year, including Dearborn Park.
About Treeswing
Treeswing (www.treeswing.org) is a Seattle-based, nonprofit organization com-
mitted to improving children’s health by promoting increased physical activity to
combat the growing prevalence of childhood obesity. Through education, advocacy
and innovative, targeted programs, Treeswing works to build balanced, healthy
environments for children by removing barriers to daily exercise within schools,
homes and communities. Treeswing partners with institutions, advocates and ex-
perts at all levels of the childhood-obesity issue, leveraging resources and creating
opportunities to effect systemic, sustainable change by developing research-based,
scaleable models that can be easily replicated and implemented by other organiza-
tions.
About Seattle Children’s
Seattle Children's (www.seattlechildrens.org) delivers superior patient care, ad-
vances new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research, and serves as
the pediatric and adolescent academic medical referral center for the largest land-
mass of any children’s hospital in the country (Washington, Alaska, Montana and
Idaho). Consistently ranked as one of the best children's hospitals in the country by
U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Children’s is comprised of Seattle Children’s
Hospital, Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Seattle Children’s Hospital
Foundation. Children’s is internationally recognized for advancing discoveries
in cancer, genetics, immunology, pathology, infectious disease, injury
prevention and bioethics, and also serves as the primary clinical, research and
teaching site for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington
School of Medicine.
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