Day 231: Great American Smokeout

Tonight's event for the blog had an unexpected change of plans! The Relay for Life and Colleges Against Cancer Committee was to host a "Great American Smokeout," an anti-smoking campaign with a bonfire to represent the "Smokeout." Since there was such high winds, our bonfire permit was revoked at the last minute...but we still had all of the supplies to make s'mores, which was the biggest appeal of our event! I suggested that we make them in one of our ovens (which was a slow process...but at least we still had our s'mores!) We also handed out free hot chocolate and sold anti-smoking t-shirts for $5...and of course all of the money went to the American Cancer Society. The purpose of our event was not only to promote awareness about smoking related cancers, but we also made a video petition to send to Congress about increasing taxes on smokeless tobacco. Pennsylvania is currently the only state without this tax!

Since it was so cold outside, our expected 150 attendees ended up only being about 15. But it was still a fun time with the committee, and a couple of my roommates and friends stopped by for some nice hot chocolate and s'mores. I don't think we raised a lot of money, but we encourage many students who stopped/walked by to register for Relay for Life in the spring!