SJ Museum Event Promotes Drinking Water, Healthy Habits

A man in a giant otter costume promoted healthy childhood habits at the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum on Tuesday, launching the "Soda Free" campaign organized by the Santa Clara Public Health Department and FIRST 5 Santa Clara County, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the health and wellness of children in their first five years of life.

Although the event lacked the planned speeches by child health and development experts about the adverse affects of sugar, when a giant otter
named Potter began walking around the museum greeting children and passing out story books that encourage children to stay hydrated, no one seemed to mind.

The event was part of FIRST 5's annual summer campaign to combat
childhood obesity, high cholesterol, cavities, Type 2 diabetes and other
health problems that have been linked to sugar consumption, FIRST 5 said.

According to FIRST 5, one in three low-income children in Santa Clara are overweight or obese, putting them at risk for illness.

Watching her two-year-old granddaughter Shea play after taking a photo with Potter, Jeanette Allen of Menlo Park said, "I think it's much more about educating parents."

But Avo Makdessian, Associate Director of FIRST 5, added that the campaign is also about getting kids on board.

"It's to inform the parents about the health impacts of sugar...and... engage kids to tell their parents, 'I want water,'" Makdessian said.

According to Makdessian, Potter the Otter is the perfect ambassador.

"When you're dealing with combating the soda industry and other sugary beverage industries, you have to look at what kind of marketing strategies they're using and use them for water."

Makdessian said that the event is the first in a series that will occur this summer, many at school-based resource centers in low-income neighborhoods.

He added that the campaign has already reached a number of kids at the museum by facilitating the addition of free, fruit-flavored water at the museum and through a week-long soda sale blackout at its café last summer. 

"It makes drinking water cool," Makdessian said as more kids eagerly teetered up to greet Potter the Otter behind him.

--Bay City News Service