President Clinton and Wake Forest mom Tonya Peele will appear on the Rachael Ray show this Thursday to talk about the childhood obesity epidemic and the work of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a partnership between the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation. The Alliance focuses on preventing childhood obesity and creating healthier lifestyles for all children.

Clinton will be joined by two moms, including Ms. Peele, from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program who have used Alliance tools to make big changes in their child's schools.

Peele became interested in the issue of childhood obesity, health and nutrition when she discovered her son eating a Pop Tart that had been given to him by the elementary school as a snack at the after-school program in which he participates.

Alarmed by the snacks her son was being offered in after-school care, Tonya did some research online, learned about the local school wellness policy, and made an appointment to speak with the principal of the school. She brought her concerns directly to the principal and inquired if the school had a wellness council. It did not, and he asked her if she would be willing to start one.

Tonya now chairs the school wellness council at Long Mill Elementary School in Youngsville, North Carolina where her son is in the first grade. In that capacity, she used the resources available through the Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program to launch a healthy eating and physical activity program.

"President Clinton and Rachel Ray were so personable and down-to-earth," said Peele. "President Clinton shared his concern and passion for the issue of childhood obesity. He said he was so glad to see that moms like ourselves are working to make changes on a grassroots level that will impact the health of our children for a lifetime."

Some initiatives of the school wellness council at Long Mill under her leadership are:

Gobble your Greens at Thanksgiving
Waterful Wednesdays - kids bring water bottles to schools on Wednesdays
Contacted local partners for promotions in the schools such as "Winnie the Cow" and "Señor Sweet Potato"

Tonya and the wellness council are now working to raise funds to convert the service road that goes around the school into a walking trail, and Tonya just launched the "change for fitness" campaign, a coin drive to raise money for signs, mile markers and solar lights for the project.

About the Alliance

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a partnership between the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation. Along with our co-leader Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, the Alliance focuses on preventing childhood obesity and creating healthier lifestyles for all children and targets several areas to spark change and reduce the increasing rates of childhood obesity in the U.S. The goal of the Alliance is to reduce the nationwide prevalence of childhood obesity by 2015 and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices.

For more information visit www.healthiergeneration.org.