In response to community need and trends, the West Valley Family YMCA will begin the renovation of its nearly 12,000-square-foot outdoor Youth Sports Arena located at its facility on Vanowen Street and Wilbur in Reseda.

With healthy lifestyles being of critical importance, the West Valley YMCA and the Anthem Blue Cross Foundationare committed to promoting physical activities for families and children.

Obesity, especially among children, has reached epidemic proportions because of poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

One out of three children born in this decade will contract Type 2 diabetes during their lifetime, while 25 percent of children ages 5-10 have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or other early warning signs of heart disease.

In addition, parents are equally concerned about neighborhood drugs, gangs and violence. With a place where the entire family can go, everyone can participate in programs to combat obesity while strengthening the family bond.

The Anthem Blue Cross Foundation sees an opportunity to combat youth obesity through the renovation of the sports arena, which is currently host to a variety of weekly sports programs.

"Anthem Blue Cross is delighted to join forces with the West Valley Family YMCA to help beat back the growing epidemic of childhood obesity that is affecting so many of California's children", said Leslie Margolin, president of Anthem Blue Cross.

The West Valley YMCA, which currently reaches 9,000 youth in surrounding communities, is committed to sustainable programs to combat youth and family obesity. Youth sports program participants are eager for the newly remodeled sports turf.

Soccer coach and father Del Panzarini shares, "we are thrilled to hear that the sports turf is on its way. We truly believe that it will draw attention and get more youth involved."

Renovations are expected to begin late 2008 and phase one complete by mid-2009. The Anthem Blue Cross Foundation has committed $55,000 toward the project and is currently the lead donor in phase one, which will include the replacement of existing turf to reveal a lush, synthetic sports grass turf with an enclosed arena.

Other phases will follow in the upcoming years. Board Chairman Jacques Soriano of Soriano & Associates shares, "The Board of Managers has a vision to remodel the entire arena which will include a newly covered seating area, an upgraded dug out, new score boards, and upgraded landscape and walls".

Other committed partners are Ronald McDonald House Charities who donated $20,000 and the California Department of Recreation and Parks who committed $20,000.

For more information about the Youth Sports Arena renovation, contact Stacy Childress at (818) 774-2840, ext. 3351, or via e-mail at stacychildress@ymcala.org.

You can also visit www.ymcala.org/wv.

The West Valley Family YMCA is an association of people of all ages, ethnic groups and religious affiliations who are united in a common effort to put Judeo-Christian principles into practice and to enrich the quality of spiritual, mental, physical and social life for their families, their communities and themselves. No one is turned away due to inability to pay.

The West Valley YMCA is one of 25 YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles branches which serves the needs of 12,000 men, women, and children in the West Valley.

Offering programs such as basketball, soccer, resident and day camps, swimming lessons, Youth & Government, Y-Guides & Princess parent-child program, Healthy Lifestyles, the YMCA is a place where the entire family can build a healthy spirit, mind, and body together.


The branch also operates eight off-site child care facilities in the cities of Calabasas, West Hills, Woodland Hills and Reseda.

YMCA of the USA is the national resource office for the nation's 2,663 YMCAs, which serve nearly 20.2 million people each year, including 9.4 million children under the age of 18.

Through a variety of programs and services focused on the holistic development of children and youth, family strengthening and health and well-being for all, YMCAs unite men, women and children of all ages, faiths, backgrounds, abilities and income levels.

From urban areas to small towns, YMCAs have proudly served America's communities for nearly 160 years by building healthy spirit, mind and body for all. Visit www.ymca.net to find your local YMCA.

Through charitable grant making, the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation LLC, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Association, 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 foundation also coordinates the company's annual associate giving campaign and its parent foundation provides a 50 percent match of associates' campaign pledges.

® ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross names and symbol are registered marks of the Blue Cross Association.

To learn more about the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation please visit www.wellpointfoundation.org.