Iowa parks, schools receive water bottle filling stations

Visitors to Tucker Park in Hiawatha now have access to an Elkay water bottle filling station, thanks to a donation from Delta Dental’s Rethink Your Drink program. The park is one of 11 Iowa community spaces, parks and trails that have been equipped with these donated stations. Nineteen Iowa schools were also equipped with these new stations.

Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation, along with public and private partners, donated $185,000 in the sixth year of the Rethink Your Drink program. The foundation expanded this year’s program to include Iowa communities focusing on parks, trailheads and community gathering areas. The goal is to make drinking water more accessible for those participating in outdoor recreational activities.

“Rethink Your Drink has been an impactful program for our Iowa schools by making water more accessible to students and teachers throughout the day,” said Suzanne Heckenlaible, executive director, Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation, in a news release. “This year the program was expanded to Iowa community spaces, parks and trails to expand access to water while being active.”

The addition of the 19 water bottle filling stations installed in Iowa schools will impact more than 7,000 students and staff. Since Delta Dental created the Rethink Your Drink program in 2017, more than $1.9 million has been invested to place 393 filling stations in Iowa schools, impacting more than 193,000 students and staff.

The Rethink Your Drink program is funded by Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and supported by the Healthiest State Initiative, Iowa Department of Health & Human Services, Iowa Public Health Association, Iowa Department of Education, and Central Sales, Inc.

Click here to see a complete list of the 19 schools and 11 parks and trails added to the Rethink Your Drink program in 2022.