Uncategorized – Page 17 – Insight Magazine

Local Nonprofit, Sikh Sewa Society, to Donate Food to 400 Homeless People

By ASUNUncategorizedNo Comments

Sikh Sewa Society of Reno (SSSR), a local non-profit, will be distributing food to about 400 homeless people on July 22nd near the downtown homeless shelter. The organization cooks and distributes meals on the last Sunday of every month and twice on longer months. Rae Mangat, the Founder and President of SSSR, said, “The purpose for this organization is to help those who are in need with life essentials without discrimination of age, gender, disability or race.”

Each month, the organization receives donations from regular donors, purchases and prepares food, and then distributes it. “It’s me and nine of my members. We contribute $50 a month into a pot, and we use that money to cook for the homeless,” said Mangat, “We serve without judging. The point is not to judge, it’s to treat each others as humans. You know, it’s just selfless care.”

Mangat said she started feeding the homeless about two years ago when she decided to start the non-profit, which now serves 300-400 homeless every month. “If it’s snowing really hard, we still feed, and there are still people there. We try to quickly prepare plates and start distributing them, so they don’t have to wait too long,” said Mangat, “I mean, we come home [after]. They’re actually sleeping under the bridges. We have a home to go to— they don’t.”

Mangat said she was inspired by the beliefs of Sikhism. “Sikhism, that’s what we are. It’s a new religion. It’s about 500 years old and the belief is, you do selfless care to others,” said Mangat, “We are firm believers of taking care of each other as humans without judging anyone. And the best way to take care of each other is by feeding the hungry.”

SSSR has plans to expand their efforts to help the community by assisting a broader demographic. According to Mangat, the organization will donate backpacks and school supplies to 100 children who are in low income housing, and will be supplying mobile help emergency helpline buttons to several elderly members of the community.

Mangat encourages the community to become involved by volunteering their time to help distribute food. “It’s the manpower we need more than anything,” said Mangat, “If we have more people, we can distribute food faster.” Mangat also encourages the community to donate clothing and shoes to the homeless as well.

July 21, 2018

Love0

Northern Nevada Pride Festival Coming to Reno

By ASUNUncategorizedNo Comments

On Saturday, July 28, local non-profit, Our Center, is once again putting on the Northern Nevada Pride Celebration. Now in its fifth year, the event will feature a Pride Parade starting at 10am, with a route along California Ave. From 11am to 6pm, there will also be a Pride Festival in Wingfield Park next to the Truckee River.

While the Pride Parade is free to watch, there is a five dollar donation/entrance fee for the Pride Festival. The event is a major fundraiser for Our Center, earning approximately a third of the center’s operating costs, according to Jeromy Manke, President of Our Center.

The event will feature dozens of local vendors throughout the festival. “Last year we had about 120 different organizations or businesses that came out,” said Manke, “We had booths, whether to provide information and promote resources for the community, and also businesses who are just supporters of the LGBT community and wanted to get their name out there.”

Northern Nevada Pride Festival takes place during Reno’s Artown, and therefore places an emphasis on the arts. “We really want to emphasize the art aspects of the overall event,” said Manke, “Everything from visual art, we definitely have a community art project every year, and then all of our performance art, which will take place on two stages this year. It’s typically composed of entertainers that are LGBT or LGBT allies.”

In addition, there will be several events the preceding night, including the Reno Pride Rainbow Crawl and Drag Wars. “We have a kickoff event on Friday night, which will be July 27^th. It’s called Drag Wars, and that takes place at the Harrah’s Plaza in downtown Reno,” said Manke, “That’s open to all ages. It’s a lot of fun, it’s different drag queens competing in a variety of events. And that is open to people who are interested and want to come out in drag and compete.”

Manke urges the community to become involved in the festival, or with Our Center. “If you are interested, we definitely want you to get involved,” said Manke, “If you aren’t sure where to go, please reach out to us. Of course you can sign up online, and if people are interested in helping out year-round, we definitely have volunteer spots open with Our Center and some of the other things that we do throughout the year.”

Manke believes that Pride Celebrations are an important reminder of the type of acceptance that should be practiced year-round. “One of the main reasons that we created Northern Nevada Pride was to bring everyone together and that support of bringing everyone together,” said Manke, “It’s not only celebrating the LGBT community, but demonstrating that there is acceptance. We want to create awareness, and that should be carried on, and hopefully is carried on, throughout the year.”

July 20, 2018

Love0

Best Fitness Apps for College Students

By ASUNUncategorizedNo Comments

If you’re looking to mix up your training routine or trying to get into better shape and improve your health, fitness apps are a cheap, easy, and fun way to improve your physical fitness. Whether you’re trying to find time for a workout in between classes or trying to stay in shape while on vacation without your gym equipment, here’s a list of the best fitness apps that are perfect for college students.

Strong

Available on the App Store and Google Play for free. Strong is great for keeping track of your workouts and progress you’ve made in the gym. You can log how many workouts you do a week to help measure your progression. If you don’t know where to start, the app provides example routines for legs, chest and triceps, back and biceps, or a mixed full-body workout.

If you’re looking for something more individualized, the app allows you to create a custom workout where you can add specific exercises of your choice. The app gives you the ability to select exercises based on categories like machine, cardio, bodyweight, and more, or you can select exercises based on body parts like core, arms, back, and chest for example.

What’s nice about the exercises you can choose from is the app gives you step by step instructions on how to safely and properly perform the exercise along with a video that demonstrates how it’s supposed to be done.

There’s also a feature where you can log the weight and reps from each exercise, so you don’t forget the next time you go to the gym.

Although this app doesn’t have a lot of cardio options, I’d highly recommend it if you’re trying to bulk or hit the gym more. It’s a great way to learn new weight lifting exercises while keeping track of your progress.

7 Minutes

Available on the App Store and Google Play for free. This app is fantastic for travel or if you don’t have a lot of time to go to the gym regularly. You don’t need any gym equipment — all you need is a wall and a chair for bodyweight exercises. The 7 Minute Workout consists of 12 high intensity bodyweight exercises that each last for 30 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in between.

The timer runs itself, so there’s no need to stop and start to restart your phone timer. Exercises consist of jumping jacks, wall sits, push-ups, crunches, squats, tricep dips on a chair, planks, high knees running in place, lunges, push-ups and rotations, and side planks to get your whole body moving.

There’s also a Glamour Magazine edition created by celebrity trainer Ngo Okafor. You can also unlock an alternative 7 minute workout or a 7 minute pilates workout for an additional dollar.

What’s great about this workout is all it takes is 7 minutes of motivation in the morning or whenever you have time during the day to squeeze in some time for fitness. Alternatively, you could repeat the workout to create an intense 30 minute workout if you’re looking for something more.

Nike Training Club

Available on the App Store and Google Play for free. This is by far the best fitness app I’ve used. With over 100 workouts, you definitely don’t get bored of doing the same thing over and over again. You can select a workout based on intensity and duration. Everything is already laid out and timed, so you don’t have to focus on anything but your workout. There’s a trainer that guides you through the entire workout on a video, and sometimes they have guest trainers like Olympic Medalist Allyson Felix which makes it super fun.

This app is great for beginners who are looking to get into shape or athletes who are looking to step their training up. What’s great about this app is the variety of workouts it offers. If you take it to the gym, you’ll never wander around asking yourself “Hmm I wonder what I should do next?”

The ab workouts are killer. I woke up the next day after a 30 minute workout, and my legs and abdominal muscles were super sore. It’s a great way to jumpstart your fitness plan without having to spend money on a trainer.

July 2, 2018

Love0

Artech Puts on Reno Art Fest 2018

By ASUNUncategorizedNo Comments

Artech, a local non-profit art organization, is putting on the Reno Art Fest this year. The event will run from Saturday, June 30th through Sunday, July 1st near the Playa Art Park in the heart of downtown, which the organization also created. The event will feature art sales and competitions, entertainment, food, and a parade. Maria Partridge, Executive Director of Artech, said that Art Fest is the overarching event, but there will be other things taking place at the same time such as the Circus Circus Mural Marathon which is a 24-hour competition where seven contestants have to each paint a mural that’s nearly 20 feet wide by 14 feet high to compete for prize money. There will also be Controlled Burn’s Fire Fest in which aerialists, drummers, and other fire performers perform while twirling around flames.

Partridge said the art competitions are a major portion of the event. “There’s around 50 artists that are regional and local who’ll have tents, and they will be selling jewelry, paintings, photographs, whatever they got juried in for,” said Partridge, “There’s cash awards of $4,000, and then Circus Circus Mural Marathon is $6,000 in cash awards.”

Partridge said that Artech has been largely influenced by Burning Man — strengthening their focus on collaborations. “We’re Burning Man inspired: interactivity, collaboration, community, all of that,” she said. Partridge is excited that Reno Art Fest will feature this sort of collaboration. “I’m most excited about the fact that this is a collaborative art event. It makes each one of the elements actually stronger because we all bring a different audience,” said Partridge, “I really believe in collaborations and trying to create a larger event, instead of a bunch of small events because these all kind of speak to each other and complement each other.”

One of the events taking place in Reno Art Fest is the Cre8tiv Zone, which will host smaller events itself. The Cre8tiv Zone will feature printmaking and face painting. “There’s going to be ongoing events in the Cre8tiv Zone, and it’s going to be run by the Boys & Girls Club,” said Partridge, “I love that, too. There’s that collaboration as well.”

Partridge said that Artech wants to focus on art and civic engagement with things like the Playa Art Park which is a community gathering spot in an empty lot downtown that features sculptures from past Burning Man festivals and a giant mural to give visitors a Burning Man taste year-round. Instead of having the event at a space that’s more upscael, Partridge said she wanted it to be in the heart of Reno off of Virginia street to add the urban grittiness to the feel of the event which is why they chose the Playa Art Park as the location.

According to Partridge, Artech is hoping to create another Playa Art Park next year on the organization’s property off of Woodland Avenue. “We store a lot of Burning Man art, and we’re hoping that as of next year we can actually set up a bunch of that artwork on the property and create an Artech Playa Art Park back there,” said Partridge, “We could have tours and things like that — invite the public to come see what we’re doing. Right now we’re kind of a hidden secret.”

Be sure to swing by Art Fest happening this weekend to take in all that the festival has to offer.

June 29, 2018

Love0

How to be Environmentally Friendly This Summer

By ASUNUncategorizedNo Comments

We get it, we get it. Being a full time student and an environmentally friendly citizen can be time consuming and difficult. You don’t always think about recycling or how much waste you’re producing when you’re running late to class or work. Fear not. Here are some tips and tricks that you can implement into your lifestyle this summer that not only will help keep our planet green but will help you save some money, too.

Participate in the Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue beach cleanup after Independence Day on July 5^th. Lake Tahoe gets heavy visitation during summer holidays. Despite the beach being the perfect place to enjoy the season with friends, many visitors don’t pick up after themselves. Last summer volunteers removed 1,676 pounds of trash from Tahoe beaches the day after the Fourth of July, according to The League to Save Lake Tahoe. Plastic and cigarette butts not only look disgusting when left everywhere, but it has damaging effects on local wildlife and lake clarity. The League to Save Lake Tahoe provides reusable cleanup bags, gloves and hand sanitizer, refreshments, giveaways, and free raffle prizes for those who volunteer to clean up. Cleanup sites include Commons Beach, Kings Beach, Kiva Beach, Nevada Beach, and Regan Beach. If you’re unable to attend, you can also make a donation on their website.
Save Water during day-to-day use. According to the City of Reno’s Sustainability Department, if you shorten your shower by just a minute that can be the equivalent of saving 150 gallons of water per month. This not only saves water, but it’ll save you some extra money on your water bill, too. Try to break your habit of turning off the water while you brush your teeth. An average of four gallons is used every minute that your sink is running.
Save Energy by using power strips instead of outlets, and turn off the power strips when you’re not using them to conserve energy. Instead of using your dishwasher’s drying cycle, let your dishes air-dry. This can cut energy by up to 50%. Another great tip is to use wool or rubber dryer balls to separate your clothes. This allows more air to get to your clothes while drying which also saves you energy and money.
Recycle Properly by knowing what you should and shouldn’t throw away. I know I’ve made this mistake myself. I think just because something is paper or plastic it can be easily recycled. Boy was I wrong. Many items of trash I thought would be great for recycling like cardboard pizza boxes, juice boxes, and milk cartons are actually quite difficult to recycle due to grease contamination, being hard to separate, and being a certain type of plastic. I also realized that recycling shredded paper versus non shredded paper makes a difference as well. The more paper is shredded, the more it reduces the grade of the paper, and thus its quality and value. Not even all recyclers take mixed grade paper such as the paper you find in magazines or telephone books. In this case, composting paper after it’s been reduced to confetti size may be a better option if you don’t want to waste it. For a full list of what you can and can’t recycle check out Waste Management’s list of metals, paper, glass, plastics, and more that won’t be wasted if you try to recycle it.

June 19, 2018

Love0