Drink Water! Said the Otter > Shape Up Projects > Home
The "Drink Water!" Said the Otter press conference was held on July 2, 2009 at Holy Family Day Preschool.
Thank you to our speakers:
Donna Cahill, Holy Family Day, Director
Dr. Mark Ghaly, MD, Pediatrician and Director of Southeast Health Center
Dr. Nelson Artiga-Diaz, DDS
Laurel Kloomok, First 5 San Francisco, Executive Director
Special thanks to San Francisco's First Lady, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, for reading "Drink Water!" Said the Otter to youth.
View more pictures from the launch on Flickr.
Drink water! said the Otter! It's clean and fresh and cool!
Drink water when you're thirsty! That's the Otter Rule!
The Otter is the newest addition to the Bay Area's Soda Free Summer campaign, and a friendly face to teach youth about the dangers of drinking too much soda, and the benefits of drinking water. Research shows that a child's brain develops most dramatically in the first five years and what parents and caregivers do during these years to support their child's growth will have a meaningful impact throughout life.
To encourage drinking water, the Soda Free Summer campaign is distributing free copies of the children's book Drink Water!' Said the Otter and an accompanying toolkit with letters to parents/guardians, stickers, posters, and activity sheets to preschools, child care centers, caretakers and parents of children 5 and under throughout the Bay Area. Along with First 5 San Francisco, funding partners in this 10-week awareness initiative include First 5 San Mateo County, FIRST 5 Santa Clara County and The Mayor's Challenge: Shape Up San Francisco.
The campaign also focuses on reaching parents and guardians, by providing short messages that have a lot of impact:
Did you know that ordering water instead of soda in restaurants just once a week saves you $78 and 12,480 calories every year?
Did you know that soda and other sugary drinks in baby bottles and sippy cups lead to early tooth decay in infants?
Did you now that even 100% fruit juice contains sugar–a naturally occurring sugar called fructose. Doctors recommend young children drink no more than six ounces of fruit juice a day!
This year's campaign builds upon the success of last summer's efforts, in which nearly 50 percent of surveyed respondents reported drinking less soda after learning about the unhealthy effects of sweetened beverages.
In California, one in three children is overweight or at risk of becoming overweight - far worse than the national average - and dental disease is among the most common health-related childhood problems, said Laurel Kloomok, First 5 San Francisco executive director. By raising awareness with the Soda Free Summer campaign, we can help kids lead a healthier lifestyle and reduce unnecessary sugar intake from sweetened beverages.
For more information about Soda Free Summer, visit www.sodafreesummer.org.
SF Chronicle: Dueling Newsom family press conferences!
