Brunswick, Prince William, Fauquier, Virginia (November 10, 2021) – This week, Rev Your Bev, an initiative of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) supported by its statewide youth-led program Y Street, kicked off its 10th Rev Your Bev Annual Celebration. Throughout the month, Y Street members are hosting events at their school 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.

VFHY Executive Director Marty Kilgore 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.”

Adding to the celebration is a new partnership between Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation and VFHY. In collaboration with the Rev Your Bev campaign, Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation recently installed new water filling stations in local schools to make accessing water easier for the attending students. Water bottle filling stations were installed in the following Y Street partner schools:

Fauquier High School – Warrenton, VA

Brunswick High School – Lawrenceville, VA

Greensville County High School – Emporia, VA

With these new water bottle filling stations, students will now have increased access to water and the opportunity to choose water and establish healthier behaviors before, during, and after the school day. “The hydration station is amazing because we can fill our bottles up super fast. Also, the water is cold so it makes drinking water so much better,” noted Lily Paccassi, a senior at Fauquier High School and Y Street Youth Leader. “Because of the hydration stations, I think I drink a lot more water during the day.”

About the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY)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, day cares 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.