A cheering chili pepper? A talking tomato? No, they’re dietetics and FSHN students from HNFAS! Monica Esquivel and the nutrition students are featured and thanked in a video recently created by the American Heart Association for their annual Heart Ball. The video, which was shared with over 1200 Heart Ball attendees, highlights the Kokua the Need campaign to which the dietetics students and Monica contributed.
Kokua the Need seeks to educate Hawaii Foodbank donors on simple ways to make heart-healthy food donations. While food banks provide much-needed food for those who are hungry, it’s not always healthy food—donation staples like SPAM, ramen, and white rice add up to lots of fat, sodium, and simple carbohydrates. These can lead to health concerns, as Monica explains: the lowest-income individuals and households, who rely on the Foodbank, experience greater risks for chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. These conditions, both of which are strong predictors of heart disease, stem in part from unhealthy eating. “When healthier foods are donated to the Foodbank, these individuals have greater access to healthier food choices,” she says.
FSHN and Dietetics students worked closely with the American Heart Association to develop the educational material for the campaign and helped to sort and label the heart-healthy food donations for the Hawaii Foodbank. And to top it all off, some of them dressed up as nutritious fruits and vegetables to drive the message home and make donors smile!