Ducks, Beavers fans: Get healthy, help community
When the fourth annual PacificSource Healthy Life Civil War Challenge commences on Sunday, October 19, Duck and Beaver fans will be united in a friendly competition to encourage, achieve and take an active role in healthy living.
By pledging to take part in the PacificSource Healthy Life Civil War Challenge, which runs Oct. 19 through Nov. 26, participants will be taking steps toward making themselves and their community healthier, while raising funds for four Oregon non-profits in the process.
PacificSource is asking Beaver and Duck fans to pledge to go healthy each week of the Challenge in one of the four categories: healthy eating, tobacco cessation, stress reduction, or physical activity. From October 19 through November 26, Duck and Beaver fans can visit healthylifechallenge.org to take the PacificSource Healthy Life Civil War pledge, which can include one or more of the following healthy habits:
-Get Moving: Add 30 minutes of physical activity per day
-Eat Healthy: Eat at least five servings of fruit and veggies per day
-Kick the Habit: Go smoke and/or tobacco free
-Relax: Practice deep breathing or other relaxation techniques for a few minutes each day, or reduce stress by getting eight hours of sleep each night
“The Healthy Life Civil War Challenge is a fun, simple way for Beaver and Duck fans throughout the state to participate in a healthy rivalry while improving their health and the health of Oregon communities in the process,” said Alexa Shook, director of PacificSource Healthy Life. “Through our partnership with two of Oregon’s great universities, University of Oregon and Oregon State University, we can partner to build healthier and stronger populations and create healthy habits to last a lifetime.”
For every pledge received, PacificSource Healthy Life will donate one dollar, up to $10,000, across four nonprofit organizations that provide prevention and wellness programs. This year’s beneficiaries of the PacificSource Healthy Life Civil War Challenge are Girls on the Run (Portland Metro), Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth (Eugene), Healthy Youth Program (Corvallis), and Healthy Beginnings (Central Oregon).
“There’s no doubt the Civil War is one of college football’s great rivalries, and we have some of the country’s best college football fans,” said Mike Parker, the radio voice of OSU Beavers Football. “If each fan commits to making a small lifestyle change during the Healthy Life Challenge, together we can have a meaningful impact on the health of our communities.”
PacificSource has long been committed to improving the health of its members and the communities it serves. The Healthy Life initiative is part of PacificSource’s commitment as a community-based health plan to lead, advocate, and collaborate to help build healthier communities by providing a means of support to positively impact health behaviorchange.
“It’s never too late to start making healthy choices,” said Jordan Kent, the former football, basketball and track & field star from Oregon who now runs the Jordan Kent Skill Camps for kids. “Though I’ll be rooting for my fellow Ducks, everyone wins just by participating and by making healthy choices over the Challenge month and in the months and years that follow.”
To learn more about the PacificSource Healthy Life Civil War Challenge and pledge to participate in this year’s event, visit www.healthylifechallenge.org.
