Organizations Honor Eating Disorder Awareness Week
Project Heal TU and the Wellness Resource Center are hosting events for the week.
Eating disorders affect at least 9% of the population worldwide. 9% of the U.S. population, or 28.8 million Americans, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime, according to ANAD.
Maggie Gareca, the vice president of Project Heal TU, prioritizes creating a safe space within the organization because she feels it’s important to provide a community for people to talk about the struggles surrounding eating disorders.
“I think definitely it’s creating a community, creating a safe space for people to talk about everything from nutrition to wellness culture in social media, to eating on campus, to eating disorder access, to treatment,” said Gareca, a junior public health major.
Project Heal TU, which held their first meeting last January, is an ambassador organization that spreads awareness and education about eating disorders. The organization will be supporting National Eating Disorder Week, which is from Feb. 28 to March 2, by hosting a speaker event and a fundraiser.
The organization is a chapter of the national non-profit, Project Heal, whose goal is to break systemic barriers to accessing eating disorder treatment. The national organization has individuals apply on their website for programs they best identify with, and their resources include financial assistance, treatment placement and free clinical assessments.
Project Heal TU raises money for the national chapter through fundraisers and spreads awareness of Project Heal’s mission on wellness and eating disorders.
“I think that's something definitely important to underline it's an overwhelmingly positive club, it's not super heavy,” Gareca said.
On March 1, Project Heal TU will host a bingo fundraiser with all proceeds going to the national chapter. The organization is also planning a social media campaign promoting the resources available for National Eating Disorder Week.
On March 2, Clara Pritchett, the operations director at the Body Empowerment Project, will speak about eating disorders at one of Project Heal TU’s meetings. The Body Empowerment Project is a nonprofit organization that provides resources and hosts events around eating disorders.
Eating disorder risk in college students has increased by 13 percent since 2013, and 28 percent of college students are considered at risk for eating disorders, according to a November 2021 survey from Psychiatry Research.
“It severely impacts kids of college age," Gareca said. “So something we like to do as well is talk from a Temple perspective and get students really involved on potential changes that we could make at Temple to be a more inclusive environment and to just better the mental health of undergrads.”
Project Heal TU often organizes jewelry making events for weekly jewelry fundraisers and volunteering opportunities.
In addition to regular meetings, the club speaks at events for sororities like Delta Zeta and Active Minds. The meetings often include slides about what disordered eating is and how to combat it, and body empowerment.
Project Heal TU also hosts the Body Empowerment Project every month, which speaks to students about self esteem and provides a space to share their perspectives about their experiences with eating disorders.
Elizabeth Knight, the president of Project Heal TU, originally reached out to Christina Miranda, co-founder of the Body Empowerment Project, to gain insight on what it is like being president of the organization after learning Miranda was previously president of Project Heal at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Ever since that conversation we have had them come to meetings to promote their volunteering opportunities to our members as well as give a presentation on body empowerment this Thursday,” Knight wrote in an email to The Temple News.
In addition to Project Heal TU’s events, the Wellness Resource Center posts informational graphics about eating disorders and recorded conversations about food insecurity, body image and identity and athletics and eating on their Instagram page. They also provided resources on their website.
“Eating disorders and disordered eating, as well as a range of concerns about body image, impact all of us in some way,” the Wellness Resource Center wrote in an email to The Temple News. “The cultural norms around shape, size, and appearance influence relationships with ourselves and others.”
Despite having 90 members in the GroupMe, Project Heal TU wants to grow in members, inclusivity and class range, and keep the discussion momentum alive in the future.
The organization hopes their engagement in National Eating Disorder Week will gain more acknowledgement and recognition for their organizational and wellness efforts from Temple administration.
“But I think our message is so important that it needs to be acknowledged in a way officially by the school and even things like incorporating healthy eating habits as a part of freshman orientation,” Gareca said.
Published in The Temple News Print Edition 10, page 17. Contributions made by The Temple News Staff.
