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California First Lady Maria Shriver Joins Hundreds of Families for National Family Day

Posted on: Thursday, 20 September 2007, 12:00 CDT

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- California First Lady Maria Shriver will be sitting down to dinner with more than 300 families of Tenderloin Community School in San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. PST Monday, Sept. 24, at 627 Turk Street.

The event will celebrate Family Day -- A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children(TM), a national movement that reminds parents about the importance of parental engagement in their children's lives and encourages parents to have frequent family dinners with their kids as an effective way to prevent substance abuse. As Honorary Chair of Family Day for California, Shriver will be hosting a Family Day event to promote It's About WE(TM), which empowers families to do a variety of "WE" activities, such as we eat, we play, we practice healthy living, we volunteer and we prepare for disasters as a family.

"I am thrilled again to be a part of Family Day and to join Tenderloin Community School in encouraging families to spend time together," said First Lady Maria Shriver. "I'm excited that these families will have the opportunity to participate in family togetherness activities and learn something new and fun they can do together back at home."

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University launched Family Day in 2001 after CASA's research consistently found that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs. Each year, Family Day reminds parents that what their kids really want at the dinner table is them. The conversations that go hand-in-hand with dinner help parents learn more about their kids' lives and help them to better understand the challenges their kids face.

The First Lady's office has partnered with several other organizations and companies to host the Family Day event, including:

-- California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) -- Responsible for coordinating the state's response to major disasters in support of local government, OES -- in partnership with the San Francisco Fire Department -- will be on hand to teach families how to prepare for emergencies, arming parents with a disaster supply starter kit, including the First Lady Maria Shriver's "10 Ways You Can Be Disaster Prepared" brochure. Joining OES is Team SAFE-T, an alliance of public and private organizations dedicated to integrating safety and preparedness in schools. Team SAFE-T school-based education materials teach age-appropriate emergency information and preparedness skills to students in grades K-12, and are available for no cost for all California schools. Visit http://www.teamsafe-t.org/. -- CaliforniaVolunteers -- As the state agency that manages programs to increase California volunteerism, CaliforniaVolunteers will work with families to identify local volunteer opportunities in their community and, in partnership with Operation Gratitude, write letters for American troops deployed around the world. -- Johnson & Johnson -- In keeping with its long-standing commitment to the health of children and families, Johnson & Johnson and its California operating companies sponsored the development and distribution of the First Lady's "Ten Steps to Better Health" Tip Sheets for parents and kids. The brochures have been distributed by physicians' office throughout the state and will be available at the event. Johnson & Johnson also will introduce access2wellness, an initiative that provides one-stop access to programs that offer free and discounted pharmaceutical products. Safe Kids Nationwide, of which Johnson & Johnson is a founding sponsor, will be on hand to provide families with tips for preventing the most prevalent causes of accidental injury and death in children ages 14 and younger. And Johnson & Johnson will provide Tenderloin Community School families with an assortment of consumer health care and other products, including BAND-AID(R) Brand Adhesive Bandages, LISTERINE(R) Anticavity Fluoride Rinse and Splenda(R) No Calorie Sweetener. -- MealsTogether.com -- To help families make the most of meal times, The Clorox Company launched http://www.mealstogether.com/, offering ideas to help families enjoy the benefits of eating together, such as conversation starters, kid-friendly recipes, and dozens of tips ranging from getting finicky kids to eat their veggies to entertaining friends. To bring the site to life, Clorox brought together four of its brands -- Hidden Valley(R), KC Masterpiece(R), Kingsford(R) and Glad(R) -- in a collaborative effort that inspires and enables parents to create quality times together at home. As a sponsor of CASA, MealsTogether.com is contributing $90,000 to Family Day's national campaign. At the local event, MealsTogether.com will host a barbecue dinner for all the families complete with Brita(R) filtered water so there's no waste from bottled water. -- The Network for Healthy California, a public health effort empowering Californians to consume more fruits and vegetables and be active every day, will provide nutrition education materials and several Champions for Change moms, every day moms who have joined the Network to demonstrate their commitment to achieving a healthier lifestyle for their family and community, will help serve the healthy meals. -- Safeway Inc. and the Safeway Foundation -- As CASA's Family Day Research Sponsor, Safeway and the Safeway Foundation are contributing $100,000 towards CASA's research on how the simple act of sharing a meal can help children stay healthy and drug-free. This is in addition to the company's annual $26 million commitment to local schools and education programs. 2007 marks the second year that Safeway has partnered with California First Lady Maria Shriver in support of CASA and Family Day. At the event, Safeway will promote the idea of spending time together while preparing a healthy meal. Families will receive all of the ingredients to prepare a nutritious meal. The event is one of several Family Day events that Safeway is sponsoring across the country. Similar events are planned for major cities, like Washington, D.C. and Chicago. This month, Safeway launched Connect Together, a major in-store and on-line campaign to urge families to connect over meals and activities in order to build stronger families and communities. -- The Tenderloin Community School is a K-5 school that serves families in a socio-economically challenged neighborhood. After realizing that Tenderloin children were being bused all over the city to other schools, the Bay Area Women's and Children's Center, a local community group, launched a campaign to build an elementary school for the hundreds of children living in the neighborhood. The result is a secure, well thought-out facility that also houses a child development center for 3 and 4-year-olds. The school also offers on-site services for children and their families, including dental facilities, counseling rooms, adult education classrooms, a parent resource center, a community garden, and a community kitchen. The design provides all of these services on a very visible and compact site.

"We're proud to be celebrating Family Day at Tenderloin Community School," said Principal Herb Packer. "Since many of our students and their families face special challenges, the spirit of Family Day and the First Lady's 'It's about We' message is something we embrace and live out here every day. We do our best to provide a full-range of services for the children and the families, but ultimately nothing is as effective in supporting development and a successful future as the time families spend together."

CASA's research also proves the benefits of spending time together. In its 2007 survey of teens and parents found that, compared to teens who have five to seven family dinners each week, those who dine with their families fewer than three nights a week are:

-- Three and a half times likelier to have abused prescription drugs -- Three times likelier to have tried marijuana -- More than two and a half times likelier to have tried cigarettes -- One and a half times likelier to have tried alcohol.

Additionally, CASA's research has showed that kids who frequently eat dinner with their families are also likelier to have better grades and confide in their parents.

It's never too early to start the tradition of regular family dinners with your children. CASA recommends making dinnertime special by turning off the TV and not answering the phone during mealtime. And to help keep the conversations going, make sure everyone has a chance to participate. Talking about extracurricular activities or current events can make for great dinner conversations.

About CaliforniaVolunteers

CaliforniaVolunteers is the state agency that manages programs and initiatives to increase the number of Californians involved with service and volunteering, including AmeriCorps, Citizen Corps and the Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning. Through the innovative Web site, CaliforniaVolunteers.org, individuals and families can find volunteer opportunities in their community that match their interests and availability. Today, there are nearly 30,000 volunteer opportunities available throughout the state involving the arts, education, animals, the environment, disaster preparedness and other areas of interest.

About The Governor's Office of Emergency Services

The Governor's Office of Emergency Services coordinates overall state agency response to major disasters in support of local government. The office is responsible for assuring the state's readiness to respond to and recover from natural, manmade, and war-caused emergencies, and for assisting local governments in their emergency preparedness, response and recovery efforts.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, through its operating companies, is the world's most comprehensive and broadly based manufacturer of health care products, as well as a provider of related services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices and diagnostics markets. The more than 250 Johnson & Johnson operating companies employ approximately 120,500 men and women in 57 countries and sell products throughout the world. Johnson & Johnson is one of the world's largest corporate contributors, based on total cash and product donations, with 2004 worldwide contributions totaling more than $528 million.

About The Clorox Company

The Clorox Company is a leading manufacturer and marketer of consumer products with fiscal year 2006 revenues of $4.6 billion. Clorox markets some of consumers' most trusted and recognized brand names including its namesake bleach and cleaning products, Armor All(R) and STP(R) auto-care products, Fresh Step(R) and Scoop Away(R) cat litter, Kingsford(R) charcoal, Hidden Valley(R) and KC Masterpiece(R) dressings and sauces, Brita(R) water- filtration systems, and Glad(R) bags, wraps and containers. With 7,600 employees worldwide, the company manufactures products ion more than two dozen countries and markets them in more than 100 countries. Clorox is committed to making a positive difference in the communities where its employees work and live. Founded in 1980, The Clorox Company Foundation has awarded cash grants totaling more than $66.3 million to nonprofit organizations, schools and colleges; and in fiscal 2006 alone made product donations valued at $6 million. For more information about Clorox, visit http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/.

About Safeway Inc.

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America. Headquartered in California, the company operates 1,740 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $40.2 billion in 2006. Safeway is one of the largest private employers in California, operating more than 532 stores in the state. Safeway is a corporate leader in the communities it serves, supporting a broad range of charitable and philanthropic programs. Last year, through the Safeway Foundation and its corporate giving programs, the company donated more than $150 million to important causes, such as cancer research, education, food banks and programs focused on assisting people with disabilities. The company's common stock in traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY. For more information about Safeway, visit http://www.safeway.com/.

Press Contact: Francisco Castillo 916-445-4571

The Office of the First Lady Maria Shriver

CONTACT: Francisco Castillo, +1-916-445-4571

Web site: http://www.teamsafe-t.org/http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/http://www.safeway.com/http://www.mealstogether.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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