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UNICEF Fitness Bands Encourage Kids To Stay Active In Brooklyn Center

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Target and UNICEF have partnered to help get Minnesota school children moving.

It's called the Kid Power program, and students in grades three to five at Odyssey Academy in Brooklyn Center received Kid Power Bands, where they held an assembly Wednesday.

Maya Moore from the Lynx was at the event, helping get kids excited about getting fit with a fun competition for a good cause.

The energetic Odyssey Academy kids are eager to get as many points as they can with their new fitness bands

Giving them a little extra encouragement to get more active, Minnesota Lynx forward Maya Moore took part in some friendly and fun competition.

"She was very fun," Princess Gbalea said of her new hoops friend Moore. "I always see her on TV, and I'm like, 'When am I gonna meet her?' But now I did!"

The excitement was on both sides of the ball, too.

"To be able to be in a position as a role model for these kids and say hey, getting active is cool," Moore said. "It's not only cool for you, this is going to be something great for someone around the world."

The program not only benefits kids with encouragement to get fit, but for every point they earn on their fitness bands, UNICEF will deliver therapeutic food packets to severely malnourished children across the world. It's something these students are happy to be a part of.

More than three-thousand Twin Cities elementary students are getting the fitness bands for a month-long challenge to earn their points.

You can learn more about the program on UNICEF's website.

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