February food for thought: How you can help your community and your health in Windsor-Essex next month

Local groups are encouraging you to think about Black History Month, reduce your risk of cancer, and improve your mental health.

Black History Month

“February. It really has me reflecting about just how far we've come and how far we have to go,” said Maxine Ebegbuzie, member of Black Business Can. “I really want to get involved as much as I can in supporting and uplifting Black businesses [which] continue to strive forward.”

Black Business Can is an online database of Black-owned businesses.

Throughout February, Ebegbuzie encourages all shoppers to practice “conscious consumerism.”

“I want people to be become mindful of how they're spending their money and who they're spending their money with,” said Ebegbuzie.

She’s organized the fourth annual ’28-day Challenge,’ encouraging shoppers to shop local.

Dry February

The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) has launched ‘Dry Feb’ once again, a fundraiser challenge to go alcohol-free in February.

According to CCS, drinking any type of alcohol increases your risk of at least nine different types of cancer.

Yet, they say more than 40 per cent of Canadians are now aware of this statistic.

“Our participants report sleeping better, having better concentration, [and] more energy,” Ciana Van Dusen told CTV News Friday.

She also said 75 per cent of their participants in past years have continued to either cut back or remove alcohol completely after completing the challenge.

“It’s a really good chance during Dry Feb to reflect on our relationship with alcohol and give reduction a try and see how that feels,” said Van Dusen.

The Push-up Challenge

“We're really encouraging Canadians to push for better mental health for themselves,” said Kerri Hill with the Windsor-Essex branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). “It's a great way to marry mental health and physical health.”

Participants are asked to sign up and try to do a total of 2,000 push-ups between Feb. 1 and Feb. 23.

“The 2,000 push-ups represents 20 per cent of Canadians that will deal with a mental health issue in their lifetime,” noted Hill.

Hill said each day, participants will get a new challenge; it might be five push-ups, it might be 15, but she added people can do sit-ups, squats, or even steps to work towards their goal.

Along the way, CMHA hopes to raise some money, but also awareness.

“Every day of the challenge, you will get a certain number of push-ups to do based on a mental health statistic,” said Hill.