HWSS MOVE4MANA Challenge

Once again, the students of Heritage Woods Secondary embark on their yearly MOVE4MANA challenge; an initiative set out and organized by the students themselves. This year will mark the fourth annual challenge that started on World Hunger Day, the 16th of October, and will run for 30 days. For those that don’t know, MOVE4MANA is a challenge that the school sets out to get their students as active as possible. Students log their activities into an app called “ActiveForGood”, which translates their workouts into “Good Points”. For every 200 “Good Points” earned, a packet of MANA (a peanut-based Mother Administered Nutritive Aid) gets sent out to children suffering from SAM (Severe Acute Malnutrition) in Afghanistan. To get started, all you have to do is search “ActiveForGood” in your phone’s app store and download it. Then, enter the event code (HWSS20) and proceed to select your block 4 teacher’s team. Finally, select a tracker to help monitor your activities and authorize the app to use the tracker. Once you have finished these steps, then you are officially in the HWSS MOVE4MANA challenge!

Drawing by Tara Tseng-West

In May 2020, it was estimated 780 000 children under the age of five are affected by severe acute malnutrition. Only twelve percent of children between the ages of six and twenty-four months old consume the standard amount of nutrients needed for their growth and overall health. With the impact of the pandemic and inflation of prices in goods and services, more children now than ever are at risk of food insecurity. So how do MANA and RUTF help? MANA or Mother Administered Nutritive Aid is a ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) made out of peanut butter, milk powder, vitamins, and minerals. It was designed to treat children under the age of five who are suffering from SAM as it is easy to use, doesn’t require water or refrigeration, and has a shelf life of over two years. A child that is suffering from SAM will need three packets of MANA a day for six weeks to fully recover from SAM. Produced in Georgia, USA by MANA Nutrition and in partnership with the Food For Famine Society, packets are shipped to MOVE4MANA’s chosen country.

This image on the left is the HWSS MOVE4MANA thirty-day schedule, detailing the activities and virtual events that are going to take place over the next couple of weeks. MANA breaks take place every day with MANA students coming into block 4 classes for 20-minutes to run through an activity. It gives the students in that class a mental break, as classes this year have been increased to two hour long blocks, as well as reminding them about the MOVE4MANA challenge. Another event that takes place every day is the walking draw. As you stroll up to the front of the school, you might have noticed the walking draw booth where you can enter your name for a chance to win an Apple Watch if you walked to school that day. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, MOVE4MANA is not able to host big events inside the school, but that doesn’t stop them from hosting them virtually. Some events like the bingo and picture challenge get sent out by email and the first person to finish and submit it wins a prize. Other events such as Kahoots or mini-game tournaments are live. To participate, go to the HWSS MOVE4MANA Instagram account (@hwssmove4mana) and click the link in the bio to enter!

This year's MOVE4MANA challenge has already started! Have you signed up? Make sure to check out Heritage Woods’ MOVE4MANA Instagram for all updates including events and prizes. Get active Kodiaks, it’s time to save lives! For any additional information check out this promotional video below.

Written by Abbie Collett