Sticks-2-Schools, Inc. Awarded Nonprofit Status Program Helps Fight Childhood Obesity, Brings Lacrosse to 30,000 Youth in 50 Bay Area Schools For About $1 Per Child

February 27, 2007 – San Jose, CA – Sticks-2-Schools, Inc., www.sticks2schools.org, the year-old program founded to help fight childhood obesity, has received its 501(c)3 Not-for-Profit designation from the Internal Revenue Service. Now officially known as Sticks-2-Schools, Inc., the program enables youth to become more active by integrating lacrosse into a school’s physical education activities.

“Even before they could benefit from a tax deduction, 41 companies invested their time and money to bring Sticks-2-Schools to 40 Bay Area schools,” said Eric Venzon, Sticks-2-Schools co-founder and now president of the board of directors. “Combating childhood obesity is at the core of our S2S mission. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, over 30,000 students now have the opportunity to learn to play lacrosse as part of their P.E. or after-school program. Once these kids realize that they don’t have to be super skilled athletes or have years of experience to enjoy playing sports, they’re much more likely to get fit and healthy.”

Venzon, CEO of TEAMWRKX, a collaboration of synergistic construction service companies, leveraged his industry connections and corporate marketing budget to help launch the program while Johnny Mouradian, general manager and managing general partner of the San Jose Stealth professional lacrosse team, provided the equipment, on-campus instruction and school liaisons.

“We’ve had a waiting list of schools from Day One,” said Mouradian, who, in addition to his duties with the Stealth, serves as the vice president of Sticks-2-Schools board of directors. “Now that we can offer donors a tax deduction for their contributions, we’re confident we’ll raise the money to help even more kids get fit and have fun playing lacrosse at school.”

In addition to President Venzon and Vice President Mouradian, the Sticks-2-Schools executive officers include Kathy Colin as treasurer and Narpinder Kapila as secretary. A host of local companies serve on the board of advisors or sponsors. In addition to donating their time and services, many sponsoring companies also donate their extra Stealth game tickets to youth who would not otherwise have the chance to see a professional athletic competition at the HP Pavilion.

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