FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona

Tucson- While hula hoops could almost be considered old-fashioned given some of the high-tech gadgetry children play with today, the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona are bringing the hula hoop back in style as they kick off the New Year with a unique service learning project.

As part of the organization’s Healthy Lifestyle Initiative the Girl Scouts have designed a program covering physical fitness, obesity prevention, and nutrition education all based around one item- the hula hoop! During the course of the project Girl Scouts will collect over 100 hula hoops to bring to schools, parks, and community centers to get both youth and adults up and moving.

The first hula hoop collection will kick off at the Girl Scouts second annual “Youth Take Action: A Day On, Not a Day Off” on January 16^th to commemorate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.  On this day, youth from all acrossSouthern Arizona will gather for a day of service learning projects.  From January to April, Girl Scouts will continue to collect hula hoops and hold sessions out in the community where girls will learn about nutrition and healthy lifestyles, and partake in fun ‘hooping’ contests including who can go the longest and who can complete the most hoops.

The project will culminate on Global Youth Service Day where Girl Scouts will attempt to set the World Record for the most people hula hooping at one time. Afterwards, all the hula hoops collected during the project will be donated to schools or community centers in need of fitness equipment, along with a brochure about the project and the many activities that can be based around the simple hoop.

Debbie Rich, Girl Scouts CEO, is excited by this project, “Many people may ask why the hula hoop? Hula hoops allow girls to use their imagination and creativity to come up with games of their own. Hooping also has numerous health benefits. It keeps the heart muscles fit, increases aerobic endurance, and is low impact so girls won’t risk injury. We can’t wait to kick off this effort and hope you join us!”

The first hula hoop drive will coincide with “A Day On, Not a Day Off” on January 16^th, 2012 at Peter Howell Elementary School, 401 North Irving Avenue, from 11am to 2pm.

For more information on the project or to donate, please contact Kristi Pallack, Girl Scouts’ Mission to Market Coordinator, kpallack@girlscoutssoaz.org, or visit the Girl Scouts’ website: GirlScoutsSoAz.org.

About Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts is the world’s preeminent leadership development organization dedicated to helping build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. GSSA serves over 14,000 girls in Southern Arizonaand includes over 2,000 adult volunteers. Our goals are to provide a wide range of contemporary programs that reflect the unique needs and interests of all girls living in Southern Arizona, to empower girls to reach their full potential, and to give girls a voice in their community and in their own lives. For more information on Girl Scouting in Southern Arizona, please contact Debbie Rich, CEO, at drich@girlscoutssoaz.org or at (520) 319-3168.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 9:41 am and is filed under 100th Celebration, Advocacy, Announcements, Community, Take Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.