You've Got BIG Plans in 2017: An Update on The Well Labs Mission
Just over 15 months ago, we were brainstorming ways how to make a bigger impact with our limited resources...time and money. We all shared a desire to teach real health, and break down the overwhelming barriers of complicated medical and nutritional information. We all (and you all) only have so many hours in the day to accomplish what we want and should do. A lack of time and resources often leaves health at the bottom of the priority list. We wanted to make real health, both information and products, convenient for the modern lifestyle.
We not only shared a passion for helping our patients, friends, and families move towards preventative medicine, but we wanted to make it accessible for everyone. In a nutshell, that’s how Well Labs came to be. Well Labs fills our desire to contribute and make a lasting impact to the health of our neighbors, and our nation.
So how have we been doing that?
You might already know that every purchase you make from Well Labs helps us provide preventative medicine to kids who can’t afford it. Preventative and lifestyle medicine can be mental, physical, nutritional, etc. Last year, your contributions helped provide music therapy to reduce stress and improve symptoms in autistic children that would have otherwise had to discontinue care for financial reasons. We cannot thank you enough for choosing Well Labs as your source of nutrition, and helping contribute to the care of people in need. We are forever thankful!
In 2016 we learned A LOT about the logistics of an online business. Our first year has been a very fun and exciting ride! In 2017, we have some insanely high goals to accomplish. One of those goals is to have an even bigger impact with our donations. Something we learned last year: we can’t just snap our fingers and put our mission into action as quickly as we’d like ;)
So we thought we’d update you on where your support is going…VERY SOON! We are finalizing logistics for a BIG event, and we couldn’t wait to share it with you!
1 Chef, 2 Dieticians, and a whole lotta hungry kids...
We’re working alongside a non-profit called Horizons, who provides wellness services to those who are financially or otherwise disadvantaged. At the same time, we've teamed up with Chef and Registered Dietitian Will Clayton, and Registered Dietitian Kristen Decker. This power couple is one of the most passionate teams around when it comes to health and food! With the help of Horizons and this amazing foodie duo, we're working on a 6-week course for at-risk youth to come learn about nutrition and gets hands-on experience making their own healthy meals. We're really hitting the "teach a man to fish" principle hard, and having FUN with it! Let’s be honest, we're not converting a bunch of kids to raw broccoli fans (maybe it'll happen, fingers crossed!) but our chef extraordinaires will show them how to affordably make healthy food taste good, and WHY they should eat it!
Part 2: The Farmer's Market Hook Up!
Additionally, we’re working with two local groups to make it possible for EBT (Iowa’s food stamp system) to be used to buy fresh produce at farmer's markets! Converting the currency so shoppers on restricted budgets can buy fresh produce from our local farmer’s at the farmers markets is a win-win. Right now, it's costly for every vendor to accept EBT (they have to purchase a separate scanner, and a pay a higher fee for each transaction). We're working on getting a booth that all shoppers with EBT can come and convert their EBT dollars into a currency (ex. a wooden nickle with cash value only good for fresh produce). Then, towards the end of each farmers market, the farmers can convert the wooden nickels for actual cash. The farmers win, and we have happier, healthier, shoppers and neighbors!
Sparking your interest?
While this is very exciting for us to share, we still want huge growth in other communities. We want to spread the resources for preventative medicine nation-wide and we need your help! We want more health care practices, pharmacies, spa’s, fitness studio’s, and other health related businesses to partner with us for an even bigger impact. If you know a business that would like to partner with Well Labs, either by stocking our products, or providing health to those who can't afford it... LET US KNOW! The more people helping us make healthy contagious the better.
Calla Kleene
Author