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When I caught up with Sara Salo this past week she was pumped. That morning, she had been cruising through the deserts of New Mexico at 24 mph, enjoying a strong tailwind that helped her tick-off the 60-mile day faster than she had originally planned.
“How can you make a change in your life?” she says, repeating to me the message she has brought via bicycle to more than 20 schools across four states.
Months ago, the Bend resident hatched a plan that she hopes will give students the tools they need to combat a nationwide epidemic – childhood obesity. And now that she’s nearly five months into her 6,000-mile School Food Tour, it appears she’s well on her way to seeing her plan through.
Salo earned her Master's degree in public health from Oregon State University last year and then thought, “Now what?” An avid cyclist who had worked in bike shops for years, Salo knew that she wanted to focus on kid's nutrition.
“How do you grab their attention and really get them to reevaluate their choices?” she asks rhetorically, repeating the same question that she mulled over in her own head for months before conceiving of the School Food Tour as a way to promote healthier meals in schools.

It's been years in the making, but on Tuesday a group of local volunteers announced that they were ready to release a comprehensive 10-year plan to eliminate homelessness in Central Oregon.
The issue of homelessness is one that has gained increased attention over the past several years as unemployment has forced more working families out of their homes and into the streets.
According to the most recent homeless statistics, which were compiled during a January 2011 count, there are roughly 2,300 homeless individuals living in a mix of shelters, transitional housing and makeshift accommodations across Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties. More than a third of that population consists of children under the age of 17. By way of contrast, there are only 84 beds in the region's largest homeless shelter, Bend's Bethlehem Inn.