Salt Co. Found Preying on Students with POTS

Newly diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardic Syndrome, or POTS, freshman Lily Jones was ecstatic to see chalk-adorned sidewalks advertising a student organization seemingly created just for students like her: Salt Co.

“It was like fate,” she said, clutching her electrolyte water. “I thought, ‘Finally, someone gets it. I don’t just need support—I need sodium.’”

Jones would soon learn she was not being welcomed into a health-conscious support group, but rather the University of Iowa’s most persistent evangelical campus ministry.

Salt Co. Founder Fay Carr claims the idea came to her in a dream.

“The angel Gabriel came to me and told me, ‘Do not be afraid. You have found favor with God. You will have this dream, create a student organization, and name it Salt Co. The Lord God will give you members, and you will aggressively recruit undergraduate students until your kingdom extends as far as Mayflower.’”

The Lord, however, may have been unaware of Gabriel’s marketing strategy—recruiting chronically ill freshmen by riding the wave of #POTS awareness on TikTok.

“I learned that salt helps with POTS symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, and feeling like a Victorian ghost,” Carr explained, citing a TikTok she found after accidentally swiping to the STEM tab. “And that reminded me of Christianity, which helps with symptoms of the devil, like lust and having opinions.”

But Carr failed to anticipate a major challenge: One of the primary symptoms of POTS is fainting when standing up—an issue during Salt Co.’s signature 90-minute praise-and-worship interactive services.

Several students, including Jones, reportedly collapsed mid-service.

“It was crazy! At first, we thought the Holy Spirit was just extra strong that night,” said junior Salt Co. head missionary Luke Johnson. “Turns out it was orthostatic intolerance.”

Salt Co. has since made accommodations by replacing communion wafers with saltines and swapping communion wine for Grape Liquid I.V.