NFL Star Helps Youngsters Tackle the Environment

Atlanta Falcons Ovie Mughelli, Eco-Athlete and Founder of the Ovie Mughelli
Foundation, to kick off the Greening Youth Foundation's Green Speaker Series

Mughelli to be "deputized" by Gwinnett students as an Environmental Detective

ATLANTA, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students at Brookwood Elementary
School in Snellville, Georgia, are about to find out that environmental action
and football can be a perfect match. Ovie Mughelli, starting fullback for the
Atlanta Falcons and Eco-Athlete, will address the members of Brookwood's
Eco-Force environmental club on Friday, October 16, to kick off the Greening
Youth Foundation's Green Speakers series. Mughelli, whose Ovie Mughelli
Foundation has made environmental activism a centerpiece of its work, will
invite other Falcons players to address Greening Youth students throughout the
2009-2010 schoolyear as part of the Green Speakers series, which will also
feature environmental activists and entrepreneurs.

When:
Friday, October 16 at 3 p.m. Eastern
(media check-in at 2:30)

Where:
Brookwood Elementary School
1330 Holly Brook Rd., Snellville, GA 30078
(770) 736-4360

Highlights:
Students will "deputize" Mughelli, presenting him with an official Greening
Youth Detective badge
Mughelli will announce the "Mughelli Eco-Challenge"

The Greening Youth Foundation has formed a partnership with the Ovie Mughelli
Foundation and the Atlanta Falcons to use these larger-than-life football
heroes as role models to encourage students to be more protective of the
environment. Mughelli said he is excited about the opportunity that he and his
teammates have to connect with so many students on an issue that has become
important to him.

"I started the Ovie Mughelli Foundation to make environmental activism the
primary focus for our programs for youth," he said. "We believe it is
practical lifestyle changes that we all should make in our households and our
surroundings to establish a better environment."

The Greening Youth Foundation is based in metro Atlanta and its programs
currently operate in a dozen schools in Atlanta and surrounding counties,
including Fulton, Dekalb and Gwinnett. As part of its programming, Greening
Youth Foundation uses a curriculum that fuses technology, music, sports,
literature and old-fashioned fun to emphasize the importance of respecting and
protecting the environment and to engage students as active participants in
their own education.
In the Greening Youth Foundation schools, fourth and fifth grade students are
invited to join the foundation's Eco-Force club, in which they are "deputized"
as environmental detectives and encouraged to become school-wide environmental
leaders. The Eco-Force members conduct comprehensive school energy audits and
encourage other students to recycle.

"We are so excited about this partnership with Ovie's foundation because we
know how excited our students will be to meet the Falcons players," said
Angelou Ezeilo, Executive Director of the Greening Youth Foundation. "We are
also pleased to be able to show the players how much our youngsters are
learning about the environment, and we hope our youngsters motivate the
players just as much as they motivate our students. Perhaps the Falcons might
set an example for the entire NFL with their environmental activism!"

Ezeilo revealed that the Brookwood students will "deputize" Mughelli at
Friday's event by presenting him with an "official" Greening Youth Detective
badge. Mughelli also will announce that he is throwing down an "Eco-Challenge"
to the 12 Greening Youth schools: the elementary school, middle school and
high school that comes up with the most creative campaign to protect the
environment each will receive a special prize.

SOURCE Greening Youth Foundation

Nick Chiles, Greening Youth Foundation, +1-678-333-1424,
nchiles@gyfoundation.org; or Bridgett Coates, Publicist for Ovie Mughelli,
+1-510-484-7022, bcoates@exposurebbc.com