SENATORS SNOWE & COLLINS ANNOUNCE MORE THAN $800,000 IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION GRANTS FOR MAINE SCHOOLS

Washington, DC – Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins today announced that the Gardiner and Dixfield school districts will receive a total $862,126 in federal grants for efforts to help students eat healthy and exercise. This funding is awarded by the U.S. Department of Education through its Physical Education Program, and is known as "PEP Grants."

"Recent studies have shown that childhood and adolescent obesity is a real health and social problem for too many students. Schools can make a big impact in students lives by teaching their students about healthy lifestyles and good nutrition, and by giving them access to fitness programs that work," said the Senators in a joint statement. "These PEP Grants will go a long way to help schools provide their students with a good foundation of healthy habits that can last a lifetime."

Recent news reports cited a survey of schoolchildren in Maine in 2001 that showed that Maine''s youth obesity rates were the highest in New England. According to a Maine Department of Education study, 10 percent of Maine adolescents and 15.5 percent of children were overweight or obese in 2001, up from 5 percent in 1980. In addition, recent reports state that the nationwide childhood obesity rate has doubled since 1980. PEP Grants help local school districts to initiate, expand, or improve physical education programs, including after school programs, for students in K-12. The funding announced by Senators Snowe and Collins is broken down into two grants:

· $377,898 to Gardiner (MSAD 11)

· $484,228 to Dixfield (MSAD 21)

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