By The White House

George Washington University
Washington, D.C.

1:45 P.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA: (Applause.) Thank you all so much. (Applause.) Oh, my goodness. Yes! (Applause.) Thank you all so much. It’s great to see you. It is truly a pleasure to be with all of you today.

And of course, I want to start by thanking Eli Manning — (applause) — oh, my gosh! — for that very kind introduction. I’m probably as excited to see him as I am to see all of you. (Laughter.) But I’m thrilled that he could join us today, and I’m just grateful for all of his work and leadership.

I also want to thank Dr. Steven Knapp, not just for hosting us here at GW, but for all the wonderful work this university is doing to forward the agenda of nutrition and fitness. We are so grateful that they are our partners and our neighbors as well.

And I also want to recognize Larry Soler — Larry for — and everybody else at the partnership for all of their wonderful work, as well as Kathleen Tullie and the team at Reebok for all of their leadership. And it’s just a thrill to be working with both of these wonderful organizations and companies that are doing all of these terrific things.

But most of all, I want to thank all of you — the advocates, experts, and executives who have been leading the way to give all of our children a healthy start to their lives. Because of your tremendous efforts, more than half a million people in underserved communities now have access to fresh, healthy food. Because of you, major American businesses like Disney and Walmart and Darden Restaurants are now offering healthier menus and products. Military leaders are serving healthier food on their bases. Faith leaders are educating their congregations about eating healthy. Nearly two and a half million kids have enrolled in recreational sports classes. Democrats and Republicans right here in Washington — (laughter) — came together to pass groundbreaking legislation that is transforming our school lunch program.

And just last week, we had the sheer delight to launch Let’s Move Active Schools, an unprecedented effort to invest more than $70 million to promote physical activity and bring physical education back to our schools. Yes. (Applause.)

And today, we are beyond thrilled to announce that Reebok is joining this effort with an additional investment of $30 million over the next three years. Absolutely. (Applause.) This investment — oh — as you’ve seen, it comes after years of leadership through their BOKS Kids program which supports innovative programs to get kids active in our schools.

So again, I just want to take a moment today to say how grateful I am for Reebok’s longstanding commitment to this issue, and for their groundbreaking investment to take that work to the next level. Thanks to efforts like …read more
Source: White House Press Office