An estimated 20,000 people in New Zealand, including about 500 to 600 in Otago, are taking part in Junk Free June and raising money for the Cancer Society of New Zealand, the event's creative director says.
Matt Clayton said there were 5314 registered accounts for the event, which was in its first year, and a lot of those were for groups of people. He estimated the total number of individuals to be at least 20,000.
''It has very much exceeded our expectations, but with no other years to go on all of our goals were estimates,'' Mr Clayton said.
The concept for Junk Free June was essentially to focus on making healthy living fashionable and help people free themselves from the negative things in their lives, he said.
''There are inherent benefits from eating a healthier diet of course, and as all of the profits from Junk Free June would go straight to the Cancer Society, I knew people would feel great about supporting them too.''
A ''crowd-funding'' model was applied to the event which rewarded participants with prizes based on the amount of money they raised.
''The first prize is for raising $25 and about 350 of those registered in Otago have reached that.''
As of noon yesterday the event had raised $195,000 for the Cancer Foundation and that figure was rising by about $8000 each day.
University of Otago student Lucy Flattery said she and four of the girls she flatted with were doing Junk Free June as a group because it was a good incentive to be healthy as well as to raise money for a good cause.
''We want to be healthy during exams anyway - we always try and do these healthy eating fads like not eating chocolate for a week and it only lasts a day. Now that we are raising money we feel like we are letting people down if we cheat,'' Miss Flattery said.
They were in the middle of their exam period and were spending all day at the library and taking meals with them, she said.
''You just have to be organised. If you have healthy food with you, you don't need to go and buy junk.
''We're all giving up slightly different things but it's mainly the treats between meals. We all crave different things; for some of us it's chocolate, one of the girls will smash a whole jar of peanut butter in one go, so she's giving that up.''
Giving up energy drinks and snacks while studying had been tough but was better in the long run.
''I think it helps with your study. When you have those sugary treats you feel way too wired and hypo and then you crash. When I don't eat those things I find I can study longer.''
Taking part as a group had made it easier to stick to eating healthily because they could motivate each other, she said.
As of noon yesterday, Miss Flattery and her flatmates had raised $101.
- by David Beck
