100 Mile Club Inc

THE CHALLENGE...

Childhood obesity is at an all-time high and affects 1 of every 6 kids in the United States reports Journal of School Health. To make matters worse, only 8 percent of elementary school students have daily PE at school and today budget cuts have minimized or eliminated P.E. altogether.

Riverside has been hit hard.

Nearly a third of Inland Southern California public school children may be overweight, according to recent studies reports University of California, Riverside.

This health crisis affects low income youth the most with the financial strain of our economy causing parents in this region to work harder and longer with less time to spend engaging in healthy and safe activates with their children.

A commonly used indicator of childhood poverty in a community is the Free or Reduced School Lunch Program. Currently Riverside schools reports 67.9% of children in Riverside County schools are enrolled in the program.

It is critical to reach these children during their school age years and instill in them healthy habits.

While Riverside communities are taking important steps to reduce the obesity epidemic, we must work together to accelerate the progress.

OUR SOLUTION…

The 100 Mile Club® realizes physical activity has a significant impact of the health status of our kids and our community and we have created a simple, innovative, sustainable  answer to this current health crisis in our youth: daily physical activity in a non-threatening, supportive, inclusive environment.

With your help we can reach more school age children and stop the cycle of inactivity, winning the battle on childhood
obesity one child, one school, and one community at a time.

OUR STORY…

It all begin in 1992 when special education teacher Kara Lubin was inspired by the 1992 Summer Olympics and used the universal dream of becoming a gold medalist to encourage her hard-to-motivate students. That year, The 100 Mile Club was born from a simple idea, run 100 miles and earn a gold medal. Her students embraced the challenge.

Encouraged by family friend, John Wooden and his Pyramid of Success, Lubin developed the program and capitalized on its immediate effects, calmer, more focused and motivated learners. Setting milestone goals she:

• Designed a t-shirt to serve as the students' “incentive chart” which they received after logging 25 miles,
• Further reinforced the value of their perseverance by bestowing to each student a golden pencil at 50 miles 
• A wristband at 75 to keep them motivated.

All students received a certificate of completion no matter the miles earned and those who met their 100 mile goal received a beautiful gold medal, awarded at a special year-end medal ceremony.

The value of these simple tokens exceeded all expectations and celebrated milestones met of new confidence, poise, increased physical fitness levels and self-esteem for her students.

The 100 Mile Club quietly evolved in Kara’s classroom. Not only did her students consistently score higher on physical
fitness tests than their non-disabled peers, they also showed improved attendance and behavior. In 2008, the program went viral. Currently, The 100 Mile Club serves over 25,000 students in schools all over California and across the country with most coming from the Inland Empire including 17 from Riverside.

We are excited to report in California, physical fitness scores in participating schools are consistently higher than the state average for the one-mile run, 84% vs. 65% respectively.

The 100 Mile Club has earned both local and national recognition including earlier this year when we were named one of two organizations named national winner of The Active Schools Acceleration Project competition which identified and rewarded the most creative, impactful, and
scalable school-based programs and technologies to promote children's physical activity. With the encouragement of First Lady Michelle Obama, the Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP), a ChildObesity180 initiative, launched the competition in a commitment with the Partnership for a Healthier America. Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP) is an initiative of ChildObesity180, an organization committed to fostering cross-sector collaboration to reverse the trend of childhood obesity within one generation's time. The Innovation Competition is funded by a consortium of the nation's leading health plans.

Despite this growth, its sole mission remains unchanged: improve the well-being of children at school through daily physical activity in a noncompetitive, supportive, and inclusive environment.