“I like sniffing butts, not eating them” – Guelph dog

SWAT completed one of its goals for 2008 when we finished the last of four butt-litter clean ups in well known Guelph parks. Pick ups at Riverside Park and Marrianes Park were particularly successful, with us collecting tons of cigarette butts and giving out SWAG to park goers, and educating a dog-walker or two about the dangers of butt litter. We received a lot of media for out pick ups including radio, newspapers and we were even interviewed by Rogers TV!

We had tons of support, even from our four legged friends, check out the photos!

Edu-Chalking (Education Through Chalking)

At a local high school SWAT organized a chalking event to raise awareness among teenagers about the dangers of tobacco industry products. Even though we had to wash away our artwork the next day, the messages reached almost all of the students, teachers, and staff at the school, as well the parents who were there that evening for the parent-teacher interview night. Check out the photos to see some of our artwork!

The adventures of Detox’s dynamic activists

Detox has had a great two months!
We teamed up with SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) for an event surrounding the taking down of power walls. We did this event at a Guelph Storm game (local hockey team). We made display boards and handed out information. Detox had a shuffle-board-like game, which was a hit with the kids. We asked fans for their opinions around smoking in outdoor sports centres, and the information proved quite useful. At halftime, there was a display on the ice showing the power walls tumbling down. It was a very successful event and a great way for us to get our name and message out, and hear what the public had to say.

Detox presented more postcards asking for a ban on the sale of chew tobacco to a local MPP John Wilkinson. It was quite a success – the media was out in full force and the politician engaged us in meaningful conversation. We’re delivering the public’s anti-industry message every chance we get!

Detox recognized Kick Butts Day with an event at a local highschool. People were very responsive to our information.
We presented a slide show and display board at an Amnesty International event in our area. It talked about the global impact of the tobacco industry, including how people were manipulated by the industry to choose between buying food or buying tobacco products. The event went off without a hitch, and people were interested in our information. Score another point for Detox!

Our PSA is now completed in two versions! We are very excited to show the finished work to focus groups and our volunteer performers. We also entered it in our school’s film festival where it was given the silver medal.

And finally, Detox is proud to report that we have had 22 newspaper, radio, and TV hits in the past 3 months. In this case, lots of news is good news!

See you at Take Action!

Detox and SWAT on the news at the Display Ban event

Detox at WHSS for Kick Butts day, supporting the High School Grant group

Crave – February we hardly knew you

Crave was very busy this February planning our Valentine’s Day event. We took our key messages to EC Drury High School in Milton, Iroquois Ridge in Oakville, Christ the King in Georgetown and Robert Bateman in Burlington. Crave put up posters in schools comparing candy sticks to cigarettes and said, “The tobacco industry starts recruiting at a young age. Does this leave you broken-hearted?” On February 14, Crave members set up booths in their schools and inviting youth to sign pledges stating that they would not “give their hearts away” to the tobacco industry. We received hundreds of signatures from youth who planned to adamantly oppose the tobacco industry’s marketing practices. At Robert Bateman, our peer leaders counted over 175 pledges! Despite some obstacles, our event was a huge success.

 

Peer Leaders also took the OTRU online course. They received certification after passing a test trying their knowledge of the course material. We feel a whole lot smarter now!

 

For the Take!Action Conference, Crave has planned an awesome photo shoot that will take place next week. We won’t tell you too much…all we can say is that it’ll be an exciting experience for those involved.  Andrei, one of our Peer Leaders, attended the planning weekend in February for the Conference and had a great time.  We’re all looking forward to it in May! 

 

Crave has also began planning for some amazing April events – Kick Butts Day and a ‘party in the right spirit’ youth workshop in Oakville called ‘The Choice Is Yours Conference’.  

March was full of time off of work with March Break and Easter.  We are working with the Halton Council on Smoking or Health to do a Hockey Powerwall event with the OTN.  Look for a full report of that in our next post!  Oh and Happy Birthday to our Youth Advisor Dan – he turned 27 years young in March!

Start Blogging!

All YAA’s now have usernames and passwords for the CWYC newsletter.  Please remember that we agreed that each YAA would post an article at least once every 2 months.  If you want to write and post articles more often, feel free! 

If there are any questions, let me know.

Dan.

Welcome to the future of the CWYC newsletter

Just think, in a few years we’ll be able to simply embed microchips into your brain so you can find out what’s going on…but for now we’re just happy it’s online. 

 This is an online newsletter for all Youth Action Alliances in Central West…and everyone else interested in our cause!  We will be able to share our successes, photos and stories. 

Stay tuned for more to come…