To what extremes are people willing to go in order to inform the public about a healthy lifestyle?
Three young women are taking their shared passion for health and wellness on the road with The Buzz Bus Tour, a nationwide road trip to encourage communities to abandon the notion that an active and balanced lifestyle is expensive. The Buzz Bus arrived in Phoenix Tuesday and will stay until Thursday.
The bus has been traveling the nation since March, towing a silver Airstream trailer to promote the idea that balance and wellness through community activities and spa-like experiences is achievable at any income level.
Kristi Konieczny, 38, created the tour after eight years experience in the spa industry.
“I felt like I needed to give a bigger contribution to the accessibility of a balanced lifestyle,” Konieczny said. “There are things people can do, regardless of income, to live better.”
Now in the seventh leg of their tour, spanning from Nevada to New Mexico, the bus visited the Phoenix Public Market in order to experience the organic local options Phoenix has to offer.
“An urban farmer’s market that was able to gain approval to allow food stamps matched perfectly with what kind of message we are trying to send to communities,” said Jasmine Samano, 29, Road Warrior intern and graduate of the Walter Cronkite School.
Kate Sornson, 24, is a long-time fan of Konieczny’s work, and jumped at the opportunity to intern for her as the youngest member on the bus. She believes that wellness is not only achieved by how people eat but also by how people move and interact within the community.
“We are only as strong as our weakest member of the community,” Sornson said, quoting a Native American tribal elder she met during the fifth leg of the trip in Spokane, Wash.
The group has garnered many sponsors, whose logos decorate the outside of the silver bus. There is also a following on their blog, which aims to educate communities in areas where the women are not able to stop.
“There is never enough time,” Sornson said. “We could be here for a month and not discover everything a community has to offer.”
The next leg of the journey takes the bus to Albequerque, N.M. From there, the women will travel the entire month of October and complete their tour of the United States in New York.
“There’s so many positive things in this country,” Konieczny said. “We are meeting people from all these communities, and hopefully somehow we will connect the dots.”
Contact the reporter at dmzayas@asu.edu
