[C-U Smokefree] Last night's meeting

[Scott P Hays]

The C-U Smokefree Alliance had a productive and well attended meeting
last night.  At the meeting, we agreed to purchase a variety of items
and fund a professional poll that will undoubtedly make a huge
difference in the viability and visibility of our effort.  

I think we should now all take a collective deep breath, step back,
celebrate our accomplishments and prepare for the task that's ahead of
us.

I would first like to acknowledge and thank our most important resource:
all of our volunteers (this means YOU!).  We started this effort back in
October with a small core of dedicated citizens and a lot of hope. And
now we have attracted significant financial and in-kind support. We have
demonstrated that we are a well-organized, can-do group of people with
several accomplishments to date.  

These accomplishments include a well-designed website, a visible
presence at a variety of community events with an attractive backboard,
the production of our tri-fold brochure, and a spiffy new C-U Smokefree
Alliance logo (settled on last evening).  We also have successfully
registered with the state of Illinois and Champaign County as a
non-profit organization.  But perhaps more importantly, we have
attracted over 600 community supporters, over 20 organizational
supporters, and the potential of one very committed member of the
Champaign City Council: Giraldo Rosales. And now, with the leadership of
the Champaign County Tobacco Prevention Coalition, we have our first big
media event planned with a nationally recognized speaker for June 17
(next week) at 10 am.  BE THERE!

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the unflagging
support of three key organizations: the Champaign-Urbana Public Health
District (may their budget be approved by June 30!), Carle Hospital, and
the American Lung Association.

And finally, I would like to especially acknowledge and deeply thank the
Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco, which has demonstrated a strong
commitment to our cause, our volunteers, and our organization by
contributing $8,000 worth of financial support (all to be spent by June
30)!  We had to allocate this entire amount at the meeting yesterday
evening.  Most of this money will support the C-U public opinion poll
which is vital to our effort, but we also had funds to purchase several
"durable goods" and items for distribution which are certain to increase
the visibility of our organization and to advance our cause.

So I say again, thanks to ALL! Let's take a moment to sit back and wipe
our collective foreheads, celebrate our many successes, acknowledge our
supporters, and breathe a sigh of relief.  Then roll up your sleeves and
get back to WORK! These next weeks and months may be busier than ever!

Thanks to all! And C-U Smokefree!

Prez Scott



Scott P. Hays, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Center for Prevention Research and Development
Institute of Government and Public Affairs
University of Illinois
Champaign, Illinois  61820

email: sphays at uiuc.edu
phone: 217.244.2616
fax: 217.244.0214