And finally tonight, in a media-saturated society, how much time are our youngest children spending in front of their screens?

Pediatricians have long warned of the risks of exposing young children to too much television and other electronic devices. A new study suggests such warnings are having little effect. The study, released today by Common Sense Media, surveyed nearly 1,400 parents.

Among it findings, nearly half of all kids under age 2 watch televisions or DVDs for up to two hours daily. And one in three children under age 2 has a TV in his or her bedroom.

The study also chronicles the increasing rise in the use of computers and interactive phones, tablets and other digital devices by children. For example, 12 percent of 2- to 4-year-olds use a computer every day. And half of all children under age 8 have access to a mobile device.

At the same time, the study posits a growing new kind of digital divide, a so-called app gap of parents who download new media apps for their children to use. Only 14 percent of lower-income families have done so, compared to 47 percent of upper-income parents.

The study comes just one week after the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a report saying television watching has no educational value for very young children.

And we're joined now by representatives of the two groups putting out the new studies. James Steyer is founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, a nonpartisan organization focused on media use by children and families. And Dr. Ari Brown is a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, and lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics study on the effects of television on children.

Jim Steyer, I will start with you.

This is touted as the first big look at things since the rise of smartphones and tablets and other such devices. What do you see? Fill in the picture.

JAMES STEYER, Common Sense Media: Well, I think what we saw in the opening segment is exactly right.

First of all, kids are moving to mobile devices. More than half of the kids zero to 8 now have access to their parents' smartphone or their iPad or something like that. I think we're also seeing the app gap, that it's clear that wealthier kids have access to some of the new educational games that you can get on a smartphone or an iPad, and disadvantaged kids simply don't.

And then, third, TV is still the elephant in the room. So that's what most kids are still doing. And what the American Academy of Pediatrics came out with last week is completely on point with what we're saying, which is TV, particular for kids under the age of 2, is not necessarily helpful.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, why is that? What are you seeing with the use of television, including televisions in the room, right?

JAMES STEYER: Well, one thing that is really interesting is, right, 30 percent of children under the age of 2 have a TV set in their own bedroom. That's nuts, right? That's just crazy.

And if you go to the 5-8 category, almost half of them have a TV of their own in their own bedroom. That's just the old real estate maxim: location, location, location. I really would recommend that kids don't have that in their bedroom.

I think the other thing that you're really seeing, too, is that in some homes, 40 percent of home, the TV is on virtually all the time. That's not very good for attention. It's not good in a lot of ways. And I know that Dr. Brown understands that as well.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, let me ask you, Dr. Brown. Your study of -- your research suggests there is really no educational value at all for children under 2. What exactly are the risks or problems that you see?

DR. ARI BROWN, American Academy of Pediatrics: Well, there are three concerns that have come up in the literature, the first one being language skills.

And so children who are watching televised programs under the age of 2 have fewer vocabulary words than their peers who aren't watching these programs. We don't know why, though. One question we raise, though, is that because parents are actually talking less to their children, is there less talk time because the program is on?

And we know that kids need that talking time for their language skills to develop. So that's the first issue. The second issue is its impact on sleep. And so, with a third kids under age 3 with a TV in their bedroom and a third of parents admitting they use TV as a sleep aid, there's some real concern here, because we know that TV is not calming.

In fact, it increases bedtime resistance and it reduces the quality of sleep. So kids are getting less quality and quantity of sleep, which is really important for their growing bodies and their growing brains.

And the third issue is that is this time placed in front of a TV or a television program on any screen displacing more valuable time spent in unstructured, unplugged play? Because we know that...

Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: I'm sorry. Go ahead.

DR. ARI BROWN: Yes.

We know that that unstructured play helps a child with problem-solving skills and using their imagination and creativity. And that just can't be approximated with watching a passive form of programming on a screen.

JEFFREY BROWN: Staying with you, Dr. Brown, I saw that you said in an interview that the last time these recommendations were made, the academy got a lot of flak, and you said that people asked you, what planet do you live on?

It's a media-saturated society. It's two couples working all the time. Screens are all around us. So what do you say this time? What exactly are you telling parents -- recommending to parents?

DR. ARI BROWN: Right.

Well, if you actually look at the policy statement from 1999, we are actually reaffirming the comment that we made. We discourage media use in this age group. We didn't say no TV, although that's what the headlines read. And we know that you can't keep your child away from a screen 100 percent of the time.

But what we're trying to inform parents about is that in this age group, televised programs are not educational, because the program gets lost in translation. They simply can't understand the content and context. So if you're trying to feel good about putting your child in front of a program, so that they're learning something, so you can cook dinner or take a shower, you're really not doing that for your child.

It's entertaining, but it's not educational. And so we really want parents to hear it and make a thoughtful decision on media use for their entire family.

JEFFREY BROWN: Now, Jim Steyer, what about this issue of the newer forms of interactive devices? Because I can imagine many parents would say, now, these are useful, right? Kids are learning from a lot of these things.

JAMES STEYER: Well, I think they can be. And I think it depends on the device and the age of child and the choice of content.

But I agree with Dr. Brown basically about under the age of 2. There's just no proof that anyone's going to learn anything, and it will be a passive babysitter. That's basically it.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, so take us up...

JAMES STEYER: As you get older, like 5-8, there's no question. The number-one category of iPhone apps now is for preschoolers. So clearly the market is responding to the idea that you can create educational interactive content.

The issue, though, is, is making good choices there, if you're a parent or you're an educator who wants to use it. And so as kids get older, they can be exposed to screen time. They can use these devices in moderation. I think that's what the pediatricians are telling us, is you just can't do it five or six hours a day.

I think you're going to still have the options -- issues of brain development and you are still going to have the saturation effect, where kids are just plunked down in front of device. But the new interactive media has great potential. The issue now as a society is for us to make sure that all kids have access to that, not just wealthier kids.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, speaking of that, Dr. Brown, what do you make of the digital divide or an app gap? Do you see it growing as well?

DR. ARI BROWN: Well, I certainly know that in some public school systems, there is a real emphasis on technology.

My son when he was in kindergarten knew how to do a PowerPoint presentation. And now in high school, all of the kids have gotten iPads to use during the year. So my school emphasizes that. And I hope that all schools will, because, you're right, the technology is important and an educational tool, and we want to make it available to every child.

JEFFREY BROWN: Where do you see it, Jim Steyer?

JAMES STEYER: I think that's right.

Look, this is a huge issue, Jeff. This is where the world is going. You could talk to Arne Duncan, who you have on this show frequently. This is where education is going.

The key, though, is smart choices by parents and smart choices by schools. Dr. Brown said that her kid got an iPad. My two children who are in high school also got given iPads this year. The iPad is going to replace the backpack. You think of your own children. They walk with all the books in the backpack. No more.

So it's being loaded on to a device. The key though is that we make this available to all children and also that we really look for educational content. We are going to actually at Common Sense next year launch an educational rating system which is going to rate apps to see if they're actually educational, because everybody and their mom is developing software now, claiming that they can teach you math or science or geography.

So part of the next generation of what we're seeing in this study is going to be, what is educational content? In the old days, "Sesame Street" was the gold standard, here on PBS, obviously.

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

JAMES STEYER: And what we're seeing now is, it's going to be on your iPad or your cell phone. And the issue is, will quality software be made that truly educates kids? But you are still going to have the limits issue. You can't just plunk the kid in front of a device or a screen for five hours, and think that's going to be healthy for them. It won't be.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, a brief last word from you, Dr. Brown, on advice to parents? You're not suggesting turning away from this world, because it's very much with us.

DR. ARI BROWN: No, it's a reality. Thoughtfully consider media use, but for your entire family, because when you're watching your own screens, it's distracting for you. And if you want to connect with your child, you need to turn off your own screens, too.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Dr. Ari Brown and James Steyer, thanks very much.

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Young children are using digital media frequently, and a new study from Common Sense Media shows that infants and toddlers spend twice as much time with screen media as they do with books.

On average, kids under the age of 8 spend about 29 minutes reading or being read to, while they spend more than 90 minutes in front of the television alone. They also spend about 17 minutes on the computer, 14 minutes playing video games and 5 minutes, on average, using a touchscreen device such as a cellphone or tablet.

The study, which will be presented Tuesday, is based on a survey of more than 1,300 parents and found that more than 38 percent of children under 8 years old have used a smartphone, video iPod or iPad. And while television is still the dominant media device in most young children’s lives, some kids are also spending a lot of time with these newer devices. On an average day, one in 10 children this age spends about 43 minutes using one of these devices to play games, watch video or use apps.

Though a digital divide over access to technology was prominent in the study, over half the children included in the survey had access to a smartphone, video iPod, iPad or other tablet. There was a marked difference between low-income (less than $30,000 per year) and high-income (above $75,000 per year) households: parents from high-income households were far more likely to download new media apps for their kids. Forty-seven percent of high income parents said that they have downloaded apps for their children, compared to 14 percent of low-income parents. In fact, the study found, 38 percent of low-income parents don’t know what an app is, compared to 3 percent of high-income parents.

The study also found that young children are multitasking with their media with over one-fifth of children ages 5 to 8 using more than one medium “most” or “some of the time.”

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A study found that between 1999 and 2007, 279 million children went to U.S. emergency departments. Over that period, the proportion of visits caused by mental illness rose from 2.4 percent to three percent.

Underinsured children accounted for as many as 54 percent of the psychiatric emergencies in 2007, up from 46 percent in 1999, Dr. Zachary E. Pittsenbarger and his team concluded based on data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

"Often these patients have limited outpatient options for their continuity of care for psychiatric or mental health indications, and my belief is that that's why they're coming into the emergency department," Pittsenbarger, of Children's Hospital Boston, told Reuters Health.

This past June, another group of researchers from Pittsenbarger's hospital reported that when children and adolescents show up in urban emergency departments for psychiatric care, those with problems severe enough to require hospital admission often become "boarders" in the emergency room.

A third of the young patients in the study who needed to be hospitalized for psychiatric emergencies couldn't go promptly to a psychiatric unit. Instead, they had to wait - and half of them waited more than 21 hours. Some of them stayed in the emergency room, and others were moved to non-psychiatric wards in the hospital until a bed in a psychiatric unit became available, Dr. Elizabeth Wharff and her colleagues reported in the journal Pediatric Emergency Care.

Why do children end up coming to the emergency department for psychiatric help? "It is not because they feel that this is the best place for care, it's because they have no other options. They're at the end of their rope," Pittsenbarger said.

"I'd like to shine a light on the fact that these people are coming in with increasing frequency all the time," he added. "Hopefully we will be able to alert people to the fact that, for so many people in this country, the options for good mental health care just do not exist."

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Many would consider it an achievement of Biblical proportions! With 39 wives and more than 120 children and grandchildren, all staying together, a tribal Christian cult leader in the northeastern state of Mizoram could perhaps claim to head the world's biggest family. Not only that, Zionnghaka Chana, 67, is still keen to expand his family by marrying a few more women. "I can travel beyond the borders of Mizoram or even India to marry as that would help me to expand my family," a beaming Zionnghaka told IANS.

From a playground to a school and a church, the village of Baktawng resembles any other tribal village but for the fact that the community members belong to one single family of 181 members -- 39 wives, 94 children, 14 daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren.

"We are all happy and like any other church we believe in the existence of god but the only distinctive difference is that our denomination allows us to marry more than one wife," said Nunparliana, one of Zionnghaka's sons.

The family is part of a Christian cult called Channa, named after Zionnghaka's father Challianchana who died in 1997. The cult, founded by Challianchana some time in the early 1930s, is now spread over four generations and boasts of having some 1,700 members. Challianchana was believed to have had 50 wives, with Zionnghaka being the eldest of his many children -- there is no count available of the number of children Challianchana had.

Perched at a hilltop, the 100-room four-storeyed building they live in is as unique as the family - the youngest wife sleeps near to Zionnghaka's bedroom. There is a rotation system among the wives to share his bedroom.

Most of the community members are today known across Mizoram for their skills in carving out wooden furniture and pottery items. The circumstances leading to the establishment of the cult are as bizarre as the traditions and practices followed by the Channa sect, whose ancestors worshipped a traditional drum called the 'Khuang', until the arrival of the Welsh missionaries.

"The Welsh missionaries banned the worship of the Khuang. Upset over this, my grandfather Challianchana and his brother severed ties and founded this sect whom we call either Channa or the Lalpa Kohhran," another community member said. But church leaders, Presbyterian being the dominant denomination, reject the cult's claims to be Christians.

"Christianity does not allow polygamy and hence accepting the cult as Christian does not arise at all. Polygamy is very rare in Mizoram," said a Presbyterian Synod leader in Mizoram capital Aizawl. There are an estimated 95 Christian cults in Mizoram with diverse practices -- some of them do not allow their children to mingle with others and attend school, while some of the sect claim their members to be gods.

A predominantly Christian tribal state of just over one million people bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, Mizoram is India's third highest literate state, next only to Kerala and Lakshwadeep. Christians account for about 88 percent of the population. The Mizo tribal people were animists until two British Baptist missionaries William Frederick Savidge and J.H. Lorrain first landed in Mizoram some time in 1894.

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KHAYELITSHA’S skies were filled with colour and the sound of laughter as children from the Imizamo Yethu Special Education and Care Centre tried their hand at kite-flying ahead of Cape Mental Health’s kite festival fundraiser this weekend. Manyanani Peace Park was abuzz as the children flew crocodile and balloon-shaped kites, assisted by experienced kiters from as far afield as Germany, the US and Indonesia.

Children from the K1 School for pupils with special education needs, who made their own kites during a workshop on Wednesday, joined in. Gadija Koopman, Cape Mental Health’s deputy director, said it was important to bring the kiters to the children, especially those who could not be taught because of severe mental disabilities and therefore did not have schools to attend. “Every one of these little ones has the potential to do and be something. We don’t know what that is. We can only provide them with the opportunities to realise that potential; that is our responsibility.

“We believe that these children have a right to education as well. We petitioned the (Western Cape) high court, and the court made a ruling in our favour, saying that the children need to be acknowledged and supported by the department of education,” Koopman said. Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, who visited the children, said she was happy the court had ruled in their favour.

She said it was unfair that children were categorised as “uneducable”. “We have to prioritise our children. Why aren’t they accommodated?”

Yesterday’s event was a preview to the Cape Town International Kite Festival. But Keith Mould, kiting advisor to the festival, said the day was more than a preview. “It’s about bringing the international guys into the community and adding value to the children’s lives. It doesn’t matter what your abilities are when you’re standing down at the end of the kite line,” he said. Princess RA Helmi Ginanti of Bali in Indonesia described the experience as “incredible”.

“The point is to make the children happy; it’s not just about kiting. This experience is about the language of the heart, love.”l The festival is tomorrow and Sunday, from 10am to 5pm at Zandvlei, near Muizenberg beach. Tickets are R15 for adults and R5 for children.

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A medical home could be a primary care doctor's office that incorporates the family in medical decision-making and coordinates and follows up on visits to specialists. The concept has gained popularity in recent years as a way to streamline the often complex medical situations for people with chronic illnesses. And now it appears to cut costs as well.

"This is great news," said Karen Kuhlthau, a professor at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, who was not involved in the study. "It's nice to think that better care is more affordable for families."

In the new work, researchers tested whether having a medical home influenced how much families spent out-of-pocket on their child's medical care. The study, in the journal Pediatrics, included more than 31,000 families with a child who has a long-term condition, such as asthma, autism or allergies.

Among more than 23,000 children covered by private insurance, the average medical cost out-of-pocket was nearly $1,300 per year, or about two percent of household income. In comparison, families with a medical home -- about half of this group -- spent an average of $1,088 a year on out-of-pocket medical expenses. This translates to about 1.6 percent of the total household income. More than 8,600 children had government-funded health insurance, and those families typically spent $317 a year out-of-pocket.

Among the children in this group who had a medical home, families usually spent $215 a year out-of-pocket. Shirley Porterfield, the lead author of the study and a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said she expected to see a financial benefit to those kids who had a medical home.

"I think if you are sort of fumbling around the dark by yourself and don't have someone to help you, families might be seeing specialists that aren't particularly appropriate for their child or might be paying for a therapist that might not be as efficacious as one could be," Porterfield told Reuters Health. "This helps create a more efficient decision-making process."

The cost savings are especially important for families who spend more than five percent of their income on medical expenses -- the benchmark for what's considered unaffordable. Porterfield said she was surprised to find that 12 out of every 100 children with private insurance had medical expenses greater than five percent of their family's household income.

"The affordability piece is really huge because that plays into a lot of potential family stressors," Porterfield said. An older study has found that adult patients with a medical home also fare better, not just in lower costs, but in fewer hospital admissions, too (see Reuters Health report from September 10, 2008).

Porterfield said it's not clear whether a medical home reduces costs for children who are healthy and don't require special medical attention. That could explain why medical home services are not more widely available, she added. For instance, just four out of every 10 kids in her study who had government-funded health insurance had a medical home.

"They are out there," said Kuhlthau, "and the conversation in pediatrics and internal medicine is the medical home and their efforts to increase the number of them."Doctors are not always reimbursed by insurance companies for the extra time it takes to organize a mosaic of health care services.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are launching a three-year demonstration project to test the performance of the medical home model among nearly 200,000 patients across the United States, starting in November.

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What makes a kid lash out at others? Profanity-laced television and video games might deserve some of the blame, a new study suggests.

For the study - published in the Oct. 17 issue of Pediatrics - researchers at Brigham and Young looked at 223 Midwestern middle-schoolers, asking what their favorite shows and video games were, and how often they cursed. The researchers found that students who played video games and watched TV filled with profanity were more likely to use it themselves - and in turn - lash out towards other students.

"This research shows that profanity is not harmless," Brad Bushman, a mass communications professor at Ohio State University who was not involved in the study, said in a written statement. "Children exposed to profanity in the media think that such language is 'normal,' which may reduce their inhibitions about using profanity themselves."

Bushman said that parents, teachers, and pediatricians should be aware of profanity's effects, since these kids aren't just rude - they're more likely to harm others.

Is television really turning these kids into foul-mouthed brats?

"Profanity is kind of like a stepping stone," study author Dr. Sarah Coyne, family professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, said in a written statement. "You don't go to a movie, hear a bad word, and then go shoot somebody. But when youth both hear and then try profanity out for themselves it can start a downward slide toward more aggressive behavior."

The study found aggressive kids were more likely to hit, kick, and punch others, or engage in non-physical aggressive behavior like gossiping and spreading rumors about someone. The researchers also suspect the study's findings apply to adults as well.

What's the take-home message? The authors think parents should pay more attention to those TV-rating boxes in the corner of the screen to see if a show will have foul language. "This study shows that it does matter," Coyne - who herself isn't a swearer herself due to BYU's "Honor Code" that forbids foul-language among faculty and students - told HealthDay. "It matters where they hear it, and parents should maybe be a little more vigilant about profanity exposure in the media."

Not everyone was buying the research. "The authors assume that words 'harm' children, and they need to be 'protected' from words. This is an assumption without basis," Dr. Timothy Jay, a professor of psychology from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, told Fox News. Jay said there's research that show the words on television - both good and bad - might benefit kids. "The authors make no case for profanity being beneficial, as in humor elicitation, or social bonding, or as a coping mechanism, or as a relief from pain," he said.

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Children under the age of 2-years-old should not be allowed to watch – or even listen to – television or other forms of media, according to a group of leading pediatricians. Allowing such exposure, either directly or in the background, could hurt their early development.

The recommendation to limit video consumption for babies and young toddlers comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), who issued similar advice for parents a decade ago. While the AAP does not go so far as to say that there are any specific detrimental effects to the brain of a baby who watches too much Sesame Street, the group says that such negative effects are possible, and no positive effects have been found, after years of study.

“This updated policy statement provides further evidence that media — both foreground and background — have potentially negative effects and no known positive effects for children younger than 2 years,” the group said in a statement. “Although infant/toddler programming might be entertaining, it should not be marketed as or presumed by parents to be educational….Thus the AAP reaffirms its recommendation to discourage media use in this age group.”

Part of the problem appears to be a total lack of understand on the babies’ part about what the heck is coming out of a TV; they just don’t understand it. After 2-years-old, however, and TV can actually be good for them, studies have show, just not before that age.

Another serious issue is that media can distract young children from playing, which is a highly necessary part of brain development. As the AAP lays out in its guidelines for parents, “Unstructured playtime is more valuable for the developing brain than any electronic media exposure.”

So parents, the next time you think about recouping from the staggeringly exhausting job of raising a well-functioning human by popping in a DVD, put on your best stiff upper lip and think again.

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Scores of kids made the trip around downtown on an old-fashioned fire truck Saturday morning as part of the Fire Prevention Week open house sponsored by the Fort Morgan Fire Department.
Excited children also had a chance to walk and crawl through the fire safety house, meet with Sparky, the fire mascot, talk to the fire clowns and sit in the front seat of one of the newest fire engines the department has.

While they were there, they could also pick up a cupcake. Children went up the stairs at the fire safety house to hear from various firefighters. This was a chance for them to experience what it might be like to wake up and discover their bedrooms were on fire, said firefighter Ryan Elrick.

It was also a chance for them to hear what the smoke alarm sounds like, and to practice crawling to avoid the smoke, he said. "You want to stay as low to the ground as you can and find the quickest way out," Elrick told the children. In this case, that meant going out a window onto a landing and climbing down a chain ladder.

Part of the open house was encouraging families to plan fire escape routes from their own homes, and making sure that there is more than one way to get out in case of fire, said Fort Morgan Fire Chief Brad Parker.

Firefighters emphasize crawling as low to the ground as possible, because fire and smoke make layers in a real fire, and the lower a person can get, the better chance he or she has to survive, he said.

Firefighters were also on hand to warn kids that matches and lighters are tools, not toys, to prevent them from playing with fire, Parker said.

People were all over the firehouse, but the FMFD team was prepared in case there was a call during the open house. They had a plan to move the crowd out of the way to prevent any injuries, he said.

FMFD has fire clowns who help spread the messages of fire safety to children, and they are trained in the best ways to teach kids, Parker said.

Next to actual emergency calls, fire safety and prevention education is the most important thing the department does, he said. While part of that is visiting schools, the department also goes to the Fort Morgan Senior Center, nursing homes and businesses to alert people in how to prevent and survive fires.

Saturday was also the 60th birthday for Sparky, a nationwide symbol of fire safety as the mascot of the National Fire Protection Association.

Fire safety education is important as a way to prevent or reduce the likelihood of a fire that may result in death, injury or property damage. It is also an important way to help alert people to the presence of fire and how to respond to it.

A home fire safety plan can save family members' lives by having them be prepared ahead of time. Families should not only create a plan but practice it. Some components of a safety plan are helping children understand where all the exits are and how to get out of the home, learning how to check the temperature of a door to tell if there is fire behind it, staying close the ground to avoid toxic smoke and having a plan for all family members to meet at a certain place if they are separated.

Remember that many people die of smoke inhalation, not the fire itself, firefighters said . Teach every family member to stop, drop, roll and cool if their clothes should catch fire, they added. However, fire safety begins with taking care about using fire. It is important to have working smoke detectors to alert people when they are sleeping.

Cooks should stay near stoves and ovens while preparing meals so that flames do not get out of control. Keep things that can burn such as paper towels at least three feet from a stove top. Stay near a barbecue grill while it is in use to prevent the spread of fire, and keep grills at least 10 feet away from buildings, other structures, shrubs and trees.

Space heaters need to be at least three feet from anything that can burn, such as stacks of newspapers or magazines. Always turn them off when leaving the room or going to bed. Keep things that can burn away from fireplaces. Use large, deep ashtrays on sturdy and stable tables, and do not put burning materials like cigarettes in trash cans even if they have been put out.

Children should not light candles unless an adult is around, and candles should have stable holders made of materials that will not burn. Blow out candles when leaving a room. Gasoline is very dangerous, and needs to be stored carefully away from any heat source. Try to keep gasoline stored out of the home, perhaps in a storage shed that is not in proximity to the home. Never bring or use gasoline indoors.

Learn how to use a fire extinguisher and have one on hand. Consider installing a sprinkler system in the home.

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Kids from all around Ottumwa and southeast Iowa gathered at Champion Bowl to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.

The event called, "Bowl for a cure," had teams of kids come together to raise funds for the foundation and it's efforts to fund breast cancer research. Each participant raised a minimum of $20 to enter into the tournament. Several businesses around Ottumwa donated food and prizes for the kids participating.

KTVO spoke with Nancy Butler with the Ottumwa Women's Bowling Association. Butler explained to us why events like this are important.

"I just think that breast cancer is something that everyone needs to be aware of. The Komen Foundation has been great. They have been helping us out now for the last three years. They gave us t-shirts for everybody, and they gave us packages for everybody. There is a lot of information in those packages too, and I wish that everyone would read it. Men can get breast cancer just as well as women," said Butler.

This was the first year for the kids to participate in this program, but the third year for adults. All of the money raised goes directly to the Komen Foundation which will use the funds exclusively for southeast Iowa.

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