We NEED (like the desert needs the rain) volunteers this coming Friday, 11/2, 4-5pm, to help keep the kids at Wiley Elementary healthy. Meeting at 3:45 at the Illini Union to drive over. Please email Puja to let her know you are coming, and whether or not you can drive.

Update: We have a room for our meeting! It will be held in 217 Gregory Hall, from 8-9 PM. See ya there!

Our next general meeting will be on Tuesday, November 6, at 8 PM. Still waiting to hear back on location, but as soon as We will have Kathy Alexander, the American Heart Association Education and Outreach Director for downstate Illinois coming to help us plan our huge scavenger hunt event. Get excited!!!!

Update: The meeting will be held in Gregory Hall, room 311. See ya there!

It’s midterm season and we’re all busy, but we also have all sorts of things to talk about with the Heartbeats! We will be having our October General Meeting on Thursday, October 11th, at 8:30. We haven’t set a location yet, but we’ll email it out soon. We need to discuss the upcoming Heartwalk (have you joined the Heartbeats team?). We will also be talking about upcoming volunteer activities, blood drives, and more!

On Friday, Sept. 28th, the entire student body and faculty/staff of Westview Elementary will be walking through a course to celebrate fitness. At the end of the walk there will be a health fair that the children will attend to get healthy facts, goodies and prizes. The event takes place from 8:30-11:30 am, at Westview Elementary, (Corner of John and Russell in Champaign). We will be bringing a small group to volunteer, so contact Ben if you’re interseted.

Worden Martin is having their annual health and safety fair, with local businesses and health-related information booths. This year’s event promises to be fun for people of all ages, with free food and drink donated by local businesses and Pepsi-co. Be sure to hurry, supplies of free food and giveaways are limited. The event takes place on Saturday, Sept. 15th, from 10am to 3pm at Worden Martin (Lincoln Avenue Between Kirby and Mattis). If you’re interested in attending, contact Ben for details.

The annual STARTwalk is set for October 13th, and we have just registered the official Illini Heartbeats team! You can join our team by clicking here, or start your own team. We’re trying to gather as many people as we can, and have set a fundraising goal of $1000.

The American Heart Association is hosting an event at The Vinyard, a local Urbana church, to raise awareness for heart-health. The event is set for Saturday, Sept. 15th from 6-8 PM. We are still looking for a few volunteers, so if you think you can make it, email Ben for details.

We will be having our next general meeting on Thursday, Sept. 20th at 8 PM. We will be in 213 Gregory Hall, and we have a lot of information we need to discuss. This includes upcoming volunteer opportunities, blood drives, and the STARTwalk. If you can’t make it, please email Ben so you can still get involved.

It’s time to get excited about the START! Champaign Heart Walk. Last year we sent a few people out, and this year we’d like to get even more involved. Also, we just got this challenge from our friends at the American Heart Association:

I’d like to challenge your student group over the next 2 weeks to get teams setup for the upcoming START! Champaign Heart Walk on Oct. 13. For every member that recruits a team (I must receive contact info and email) I will give a $10 Walmart gift card.

More news to come, but start rounding up your teams now!

Quad Day was a big success, and we’re ready to have our first meeting of the semester! We will be meeting on Tuesday, August 28th at 8pm. We’ll meet in the basement of the Union, by McDonald’s– ironic? We’ll be shaping the club and planning events for the semester, so make sure to attend if you can. Bring your ideas, and lots of friends– the more the merrier!