re:TH!NK Partners Participate in Fox Cities Marathon Events

re:TH!NK, Winnebago's Healthy Living Partnership, wants to walk the walk, not just talk the talk when it comes to promoting healthy lifestyle choices. That's why re:TH!NK sponsored the "Fox Cities Marathon Challenge" this year hoping to involve our partners in something that shows our community that we're practicing what we preach!

A well deserved "Congrats" and a heart-felt "Thank You" goes out to the nearly 20 re:TH!NK partners that participated in this weekend's Community First Fox Cities Marathon and Festival of Races events. (Check the race results links to see how everyone did.) Each participant representing re:TH!NK wore a very fashionable (and practical) headband with the re:TH!NK logo on the front. Thanks also to Sports Graphics in Menasha for getting us our headbands in time!

re:TH!NK boasted two relay teams (team "re:TH!NK" and team "re:TH!NK Winnebago Alcohol"), four participants in the half marathon, three participants in the 5k, and one in the full marathon. To those who might not know, that lone full marathoner, Fred Umland, recently retired from the Winnebago County Human Services Department. He is part of a group of about 20 that have ran in every Fox Cities Marathon (that 20+ years of marathons)! Way to go Fred!!! We are very inspired by you and hope others are too and look foward to the Marathon Challenge again next year.

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 23^rd 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.

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

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!!!

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.