Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A Month of Recovery

September is celebrated as National Recovery Month. Step Industries and Mooring Programs will be honoring recovery month by hosting UNITED IN RECOVERY on September 23rd at Pathways Church in Appleton. Teen Challenge, a Milwaukee based recovery program for adolescents, will performed a concert. Along with Teen Challenge you will hear inspirational stories from current and past program participants of Step Industries and the Mooring Programs. Information will be available on the different avenues a person and a family can take on the journey to sobriety. There will also be an array of delicious desserts available to enjoy, a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle. All proceeds from ticket sales and auction items will go directly to Step Industries and Mooring Programs. Join Step Industries, Mooring Programs and new friends at Pathways Church for a night of inspiration and entertainment.





Ticket information is available by calling Step Industries 733-2345 or visiting our website at www.stepindustries.com.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Selling the Drinking Culture

It's that time of year again, the packed aisle, with glue, markers, and boxes of Kleenex flying from shelves to carts. One of the first things that is on the school supply lists are spiral notebooks. Some have kittens, skulls, or trees on them. As I was walking down the aisle of the Oshkosh Target I came across a note book that sparked my interest. The notebook was on a end cap right at eye level it reads, " College is like a fountain of knowledge... and the students are there to drink". Of course I had to buy this notebook to show to the rest of the re:TH!NK staff. We all had similar responces we could not believe that Target was selling this notebook on their shelves. I did a bit of research on the saying and when I Googled it the results that came up used the saying in a drinking postive way. One website called Cracked.com has a atricle called "College Drinking", the first paragraph of the page says this:
College. A time when young men and women say goodbye to moderation and hello to many repeated nights of hugging their dorm room toilets. Why? Because “college is like a fountain of knowledge – and all the students are there to drink.” -Unknown."
As a community it is important that we try and mantaine healthy people who live around us. Oshkosh is home to Univeristy of Wisconsin Oshkosh it seems to be even more important to help our commnitiy healthy.
city of Oshkosh have been called many names assocated with drinking, UW Zero, Sloshkosh, OshVages, among others. Having a University in our city that has a repuation for their high alcohol consumption you would think that it would make sense to not sell the drinking culture further to the college students coming into our city.

Selling the Drinking Culture

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

City of Menasha Promotes Health and Pedestrian Mobility

We want to offer a big "high five" to the City of Menasha Common Council for approving removal of 13 on-street parking stalls on a six-block section of State 47 to make room for bike lanes! An article in today's News-Record states that "city officials previously approved a recommendation to install 5-foot-wide bike lanes on both sides of 47 from Third Street to Ninth Street as part of an overall plan to improve biking facilities from Valley Road in Appleton to First Street in Neenah through the city and Town of Menasha."

This is awesome news for the residents of the Fox Valley. re:TH!NK wants to promote pedestrian mobility (walking and biking) and by having safe routes for bikers, this will making getting around by bike much easier! Thanks City of Menasha!!!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Have You Heard?

Cold beer chill'n in my console, water bottle full of whisky in my handbag, think we kissed but I forgot, roll'n down the street smoking endo, sipping on gin and juice, but a colt 45 and two ZigZags, baby that's all I need. Is that really all you need to have a good time and be a teenager growing up in the United States? We are not here to "dis" popular music or to say music is a bad thing, we simply want to start a conversation about the lyrics that our youth and adults listen too.  

Most generations have its share of music that is associated with partying, and that is normal. Our question to you is, if our youth and constantly being exposed to music that is focused on drinking and other unhealthy behaviors will it have an effect on them? Some of you may be saying, " I listened to the Grateful Dead and I was a good kid" while others of you may have difference experiences. The more exposure to a product, idea, or way of life the more ok it seems, not only to youth but adults as well.

So, listen to music,jam out, dance in your car on your way to work! We just ask that you put a critical eye and ear to the lyrics of the songs you are listening too.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Calorie Labels on Menus = Decrease in Calorie Consumption

According to a study released in late July, 1 in 6 consumers have altered their food purchases at New York Cities chain restaurants after a city-wide ordianance that went into effect in 2008 required chains to prominently post calorie infomation on their menus.

For the three main restaurant chains studied, customers on average bought 44 fewer calories at McDonald's, 80 fewer calories at Au Bon Pain and 59 fewer calories at KFC.

The change to labeling also lead chains to offer healthier options as the default or add new healthier options to their menus. However the labeling had no effect on the choice kids made at the restaurants studied.

Menu labeling helps consumers make informed decisions about their caloric intake. With at least 20% of American's being obese, posting calorie infomation is one piece of the puzzle in the effort to reduce death and disease related to obesity.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/07/27/calorie-labels-change-some-diners-habits-study-says/#ixzz1UAZNcANc

Monday, August 1, 2011

Rx Drug Abuse

Everyone knows that drugs are bad, but what about the kind you get at the doctors office? In the Threat Assessment for 2009 done by the Lake Winnebago Area Drug Unit prescription drugs were the number two threat in the Fox Cities. Even though it is 2011 the threat has not gone away in fact it has gotten worse. There have been robberies, muggings, overdoses, and murders in our area all over prescription drugs. Recently Science Daily released a study that  believes the use of prescription drugs is a first step on the path toward misuse of heroin and other injected drugs. They also found that almost one out of four young injection drug users first injected a prescription opioid, and most later switched to injecting heroin. If you would like to read the full article click here.

re:TH!NK has been partnering with local law enforcement to put into place permanent drug drop boxes in Winnebago County. There is one located at the Oshkosh Police Department in the hallway which is open 24/7. Neenah Police Department has a new drug drop box that is also open 24/7. If you have old prescriptions drugs that you have not finished or need to get rid of please used one of these boxes and help us keep these dangerous drugs off the street.