On Thursday October 18, 2012, the Public Relations Student Society Of America (PRSSA) chapter at West Virginia University took part in the United Way’s Youth Day of Caring. The volunteers handed out information on healthy living, recipes and the farmers Market located on Spruce Street.
The Youth Day of Caring is a yearly initiative to get people under the age of 25 together to volunteer for a non-profit in their community. West Virginia is one of the least healthy states in the country and the PRSSA students felt that they should focus on trying to get people to change their outlook on junk food.
“It’s good for people to develop these habits early. College is a good place to start focusing on healthy lifestyles,” said Jack Lake, Community Service Chair for Volunteers. Lake talked to students about the benefits of being health conscious and also gave away free stress balls and plastic tumblers that were donated by LiveWellWV. PRSSA stationed a booth in the free speech circle across from the Mountainlair where they had posters advertising correct portion sizes for food, nutrition facts about alcohol and energy packed foods. The Mountaineer, Jonathan Kimble, even stopped by to take on challengers in a push-up contest.
Interesting facts I learned from the booth: The ‘cream’ filling in Twinkies is mostly shortening like vegetable or beef fat. According to efficientdrinker.com, a Long Island Iced Tea has upwards of 400 calories! As many as drinking 4.1 Miller Lites. The Benefits of drinking Green Tea include prevention of cancer, can increase metabolism, reduces heart disease, and can lower your cholesterol.