and... they're OFF!!!

Hello World!! and welcome to the first post ever by us, the Turtles of Myrtle Avenue. We hail from all four corners of the states - Minnesota, Texas, Connecticut, and California to be exact - but have come together here in Brooklyn with one goal in mind: to help children in danger!!!

Well, they're not in any sort of real immediate danger... at least not the kind you generally think of when you think of danger. No darts flying from walls, no swordfights in close proximity, not even a giant rolling boulder chasing them down some dark, dank tunnel. Rather, we have all pledged to fight the good fight against one of the most deadly of silent dangers: childhood obesity.

Here are some statistics taken from the Team for Kids website:

New York City More than 43 percent of the city's children are overweight or obese. Overall, the percentage of overweight and obese children in New York's public elementary schools exceeds the alarming national levels by more than 100 percent. Student-teacher ratios for physical education are an estimated 730 to 1 in New York City elementary schools. In two out of three middle schools, most of the physical education classes have more than 50 students. Two out of five New York City public schools (all levels) offer no after-school sports and fitness activities at all. United States Obesity now kills 300,000 Americans per year The World Bank has estimated that 12 percent of the U.S. health care budget is spent treating obesity-related medical issues more than $100 billion annually The percentage of young people who are overweight or obese has more than tripled since 1980 Diabetes is expected to afflict one in three American children born in 2000 unless they begin to eat better and exercise more. Worldwide 300 million people worldwide are obese and 750 million more are overweight. At least 155 million school-age children worldwide are overweight or obese, according to the latest estimates from the International Obesity Taskforce. Research indicates that in some parts of Africa, fatness and obesity afflicts more children than malnutrition does - sometimes four times as many. In Egypt more than 25 percent of 4-year-olds are overweight. Obesity rates are also more than 25 percent among children aged between 4 to 10 in Chile, Peru, Mexico.

As proof of our dedication to the cause, and our commitment to good health, we are all running the ING New York City Marathon on November 4, 2007. We are now accepting tax-deductible donations to help us reach our goal of $10,000!!

For more information on how to donate, please contact nini (for now): nini.wienie@gmail.com

Keep checking our site as we will be keeping you updated on our training, our fundraising efforts, and our progress towards the goal of $10,000 and 26.2 miles!