Chesterfield, VA (May 2, 2022) – 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 a new statewide event, Rev Your Bev Week. The week of action aims to promote water and support schools across Virginia in maintaining a positive, healthy learning environment by educating youth and encouraging increased water promotion and access in schools.
As part of Rev Your Bev Week, Y Street’s partner schools and members are participating in a variety of activities to energize their schools’ existing efforts to increase students’ and staff’s access to water. This includes hosting events at their schools to provide tips on how to model healthy behaviors and providing students an opportunity to share their thoughts on water consumption and access. Members are also inviting their school administrators to join the celebration and encouraging them to team up with the Rev Your Bev campaign.
Y Street members from Lloyd C. Bird High School hosted their Rev Your Bev event on May 2. These students set up a table during their lunch periods to ask their peers to show their support for Rev Your Bev and its model policy by writing messages of support and taking fun pictures with Rev Your Bev-themed items that were displayed on a banner. Y Street members shared their thoughts on the event’s impact.
Sophomore student Kaliyah Ampy noted that “events like this will benefit people to start drinking water more.” Fellow sophomore Jayla Johnson stated, “events like today’s are important because it promotes and supports the benefits of drinking water and why it is important to our bodies and needed for our existence.”
Through numerous events, direct outreach to policymakers, and the collection of over 8,000 surveys to date, the ongoing efforts of Y Street members in their schools and community highlight a dedication to promoting healthy lifestyles and demonstrate the impact youth can have in their schools and communities.
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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.
