PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, has awarded the Kent County YMCA a grant for $2,500 in support of health and wellness programs related to Activate America, a long-term initiative designed to strengthen and promote the YMCA’s abilities to help more Americans live healthier lives.

Specifically, the grant money will be used to provide free of charge horticultural therapy programs to both cancer survivors and their caregivers—a group frequently overlooked.

This grant is one of 400 that PepsiCo is allocating to YMCAs around the country, for a total gift of $1 million for 2009.

“PepsiCo and the YMCA have a shared commitment to find better ways to help Americans lead healthier lifestyles,” said Mica Wilson, Healthier Lifestyles Marketing, PepsiCo. “Working together, we have tremendous potential to encourage individuals and families across the country to become more physically active and make better nutritional choices.”

Activate America is the YMCA’s response to the nation’s growing health crisis. The YMCA is redefining itself and engaging communities across the country to better support Americans of all ages who are struggling to achieve and maintain well-being spirit, mind and body. Activate America is making healthy living a reality for millions of Americas by: helping YMCAs better support individuals who continuously try but are unable to sustain a commitment to healthy living; helping YMCAs to reduce community barriers and increase community support for healthy living; and helping YMCAs collaborate across public, private and not-for-profit sectors to make an impact on the nation’s health crisis.

“We are very grateful for PepsiCo’s support of our health and wellness initiatives,” said Eileen Barber, Kent County YMCA Executive Director. “Through our long-term alliance, we are working together to reverse our country’s obesity epidemic and the dangerous course of physical activity and poor nutrition that threatens the long-term health of our country.”