A Letter from CATCH Global Foundation Executive Director Duncan Van Dusen

December 2, 2015  | By CATCH Global Foundation

Dear Friend of CATCH,

Thanks to your support, we continue to improve children’s health worldwide, and link underserved communities to the resources necessary to create and sustain healthy change for future generations. (just like in Los Fresnos CISD, pictured here)

You may enjoy our new brochure which provides updates on our work. In 2015, we implemented CATCH in about 1,000 new schools and sites serving over 100,000 children, and we expect to do even more in 2016. Other highlights from our first full year as a foundation include:

• We announced our founding partnership with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 
• We performed 130 days of CATCH training with communities in 24 states and 1 foreign country – 27% above our previous record of 102 days in 2008
• We launched MD Anderson’s Sunbeatables™ pre-school sun safety program in over 50 sites in 6 states serving 3,000 kids 
• At the invitation of the government of Ecuador, we started a Spanish-language pilot of CATCH in 7 public schools in Cuenca
• In collaboration with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, we concluded our project in the 12 schools of Los Fresnos in South Texas – posting successful results including a 29% increase in physical activity and a 27% increase in children in the CDC’s healthy weight zone
• We completed our first financial audit successfully; in 2014, our administrative expenses represented only 9.3% of total outlays
• We extended our partnership with the Oklahoma State Department of Health into elementary schools, implementing 14 campuses as the first installment in a plan to provide CATCH throughout the state
• Thanks to a grant from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, we brought CATCH to all of the YMCAs in Texas that didn’t already use it 
• Perhaps most importantly of all, we initiated a long-term project to bring CATCH to economically distressed communities nationwide – including work in both urban (El Paso, Detroit, New York City, Los Angeles) and rural (Clovis NM, Altus OK) areas.

It is this last category that your individual donations particularly support. Thanks to the generosity of our founding partners in covering our operating expenses, 100% of our individual donations go directly to programming.

In this time of giving thanks and helping others, I hope you will continue to support our mission with a contribution to the health of our children. Each $10 brings CATCH to another child for another year. $350 supports an entire classroom and $5000 an entire school. To make a donation simply go to: http://catchinfo.org/donate/

Thank you and be well!

Duncan

PS You can also follow our work and join in the conversation about improving child health by YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook.