The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association is issuing a call to action to the sporting goods industry to help support the Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP), a program that has become the centerpiece of the trade association’s efforts to promote an active lifestyle for children and reduce the effects of the childhood obesity problem in America. The program, which has had six successful years of funding innovative physical education programs across the country, could disappear if the industry is not successful in its efforts to gain Senate support to reverse efforts by the Bush Administration to limit and ultimately kill funding for the program. The Administration has proposed reduced funding in 2007 (only enough to pay for previously-awarded grants) and recommended eliminating PEP altogether in 2008. The U.S. House of Representatives has already rubber-stamped reduced funding — $28.6 million-consistent with the President’s budget.

PEP’s only chance of survival is a pending July 18 decision by the Senate Labor HHS Appropriations Subcommittee that could force a reconciliation of the budget between the two chambers of Congress.

“This is a critical step in the process,” said Tom Cove, CEO of SGMA. “If we don’t get the funding now, we are almost certainly going to see support reduced this year and for many years to come. PEP is in real jeopardy.”

Historically, PEP has gained more support and funding each year since its inception in 2001. In six years, Congress has funded over $325 million in PEP grants, helping 825 schools teach healthy, active living to more than 300,000 schoolchildren. Last year alone, PEP received $73 million in funding from Congress. This year, advocates had asked Congress to raise the funding level to $100 million. Prompted by an alarming national obesity rate and greater awareness of the risks of inactivity and sedentary lifestyles, 29 U.S. Senators and 36 Members of Congress formally signed letters of support for $100 million in 2007.

Cove said that the program should not be seen as an effort to subsidize the sporting goods industry, but retailers, team dealers, and manufacturers alike certainly see the benefits from the program. “The purpose of the bill is not necessarily to drive sales, but to promote a healthy lifestyle for kids,” said Cove. “But increased sales is certainly a tangible by-product of a program that has provided $325 million in grants for schools for equipment and training.”

PEP funding has successfully enhanced K-12 physical education programs across the country through grants used for training in state-of-the-art health and wellness-based physical education methods; the addition of new technology such as heart-rate monitors and pedometers; and the acquisition of state-of-the-art P.E. equipment and facilities. In some instances, SGMA said the equipment has literally saved the lives of young students who learned of heart murmurs or worked to overcome insulin dependencies.

Cove said that July 18 will be an important milestone in determining the priority of these benefits in our national budget. SGMA is facilitating a grassroots write-in campaign for the industry to contact Congress immediately and is urging everyone active in the sporting goods industry to participate in the campaign.

Details on the write in campaign can be found at www.SGMA.com