December Advocacy Update

December…one of my favorite times of the year!   We hope you will take time this December to spend with your family and friends and consider sharing the gift of hope through an ACS CAN Membership. 

Although, we are all busy shopping, baking, and traveling this month we are also preparing for the opening of the Legislative session in South Carolina and watching intently as the Federal Government continues budget debates…it will surely be an interesting couple of weeks before we head into 2013.

Some things to share…

38.1% of the state’s population is now covered by a smoke-free ordinance thanks to Lancaster County who passed a comprehensive smoke free ordinance the end of November making them the 50^th community in South Carolina to pass an ordinance.

We have a couple of Relay For Life events that are close to becoming ACS CAN Clubs:  Orangeburg, York East, and Spartanburg are all within 10-14 members of reaching the goal of 30 members.  Let’s see if we can make CAN Club status before the end of the year.

We are looking for volunteers to serve as the Advocacy Chair for their local community.  They would be responsible for sharing information to cancer advocates and recruiting ACS CAN members.  If you are interested please contact me and we will schedule a training date.

Congratulations to Debbie Bryant of Hollings Cancer Center who recently won the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation’s Outstand Community Heath Leader Award.  We are so thankful for Debbie and the work she does at Hollings!

You are the first to know…South Carolina will be hosting a Lights of Hope Ceremony on the State House grounds in March.  This is the first time we have ever held an event of this level to recognize cancer survivors and caregivers.  Stay tuned for more information!

Happy Holidays and thank you for being an advocate for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network!

Beth Johnson
Grassroots Manager for South Carolina
[email protected]
843-858-2310