The Shadow
Throughout the month of November, Rev Your Bev, an initiative of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) supported by its statewide youth-led program Y Street, is celebrating its 10th Rev Your Bev Annual Celebration.
Y Street partner schools across the commonwealth are hosting events and leveraging social media to empower their school community and the public to incorporate drinking water into their daily activities.
Research has consistently proven that water is the healthiest beverage choice as it acts as fuel for your body. Since 2013, Rev Your Bev and Y Street have devoted and sustained efforts to spread healthy hydration messages to help individuals make drinking water a habit and improve Virginians’ overall health.
Y Street’s partner school, Alleghany High School, hosted its Rev Your Bev tabling event on Dec. 10 during lunch periods and basketball games with Y Street members engaging their school community in fun activities.
During the event, Alleghany students and staff wrote messages of support for increased healthy hydration promotion in Virginia schools and sampled fruit-infused water. Students also earned water bottles and other prizes while learning from their peers about the benefits of drinking water and proper hydration behaviors.
Alleghany freshman and Y Street member Kayleigh Gunter shared her thoughts on the event and the impact it had on her.
“This was the first time that I spoke to many people in the cafeteria which is out of my comfort zone, but it was such a fun and impactful experience,” she said.
Alleghany High School’s efforts demonstrate its commitment to promoting healthier lifestyles and creating a healthier learning environment. VFHY Executive Director Marty Kilgore thanks Y Street’s partner schools for their continued advocacy and also shared her comments on the campaign’s longevity and continued success.
“VFHY is proud to celebrate 10 years of Rev Your Bev with our Y Street Youth Leaders. This celebration is a testament of their tenacity and commitment to empowering their peers to make healthy choices,” he said.
Established in 1999 by the Virginia General Assembly, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth empowers Virginia’s youth to make healthy choices by reducing and preventing youth tobacco and nicotine use, substance use, and childhood obesity.
VFHY takes a comprehensive approach to prevention work that includes reaching about 50,000 children each year through classroom-based prevention programs in public schools, after-school programs, community centers, daycares and prevention programs across the state.
VFHY’s award-winning marketing campaigns deliver prevention messaging to more than 500,000 children annually. In addition, VFHY’s research program provides scientific insight on methods to effectively reduce tobacco use. Since 2002, VFHY has funded 40 large research projects at universities throughout Virginia.
For more information, visit www.vfhy.org.
