FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (EASTON-JULY 16, 2007)
Talbot County Tobacco Program Awards Tobacco Prevention Mini Grants
Helping the community learn about the dangers of tobacco is the focus of the Talbot County Tobacco Prevention Program’s mini grants. Among the recipients of a mini grant this year was Easton Day Care, whose school age children created posters about smoking, placing them in the windows of businesses throughout the town of Easton.
Shola Olajide, site director of the school age site for Easton Day Care, comments, “If we instill in the children right now the hazards of tobacco, hopefully a seed has been sown and they won’t succumb to peer pressure in the future. The children have learned about tobacco from singing songs and through the posters they created, which were then placed throughout the community for parents and employees of local businesses to see.”
Businesses which featured the posters included the Easton Bowling Alley, the American Legion, the Easton Fire Department, Spurry Tires, the Easton Post Office staff lounge, UPS, the Office of Legal Aid, Clay Bakers, the Avalon Theatre, Crackerjacks, Tastee-Freeze, and Dairy Queen.
The Talbot County Health Department funds the mini grant program through Tobacco Settlement funds, providing mini grants to local non profits and businesses to help promote tobacco prevention in Talbot County. Applications are now being accepted for mini grants for the current year. On the average, each mini grant is about $1,000, although amounts vary from year to year with changes in funding.
Organizations and businesses which were funded this past year included the Headstart Program and three day care programs, Easton and Trappe Little Leagues and Easton Soccer, Talbot County Parks and Recreation, Shore Health System, the Neighborhood Service Center, the Multicultural Fair, the Easton Police Department, Celeste Industries, the Talbot County YMCA, and the Church of the Brethren, Christ Church, and Iglesia Evangelica Emanuel. Tobacco prevention activities included educational information, drug-free events for youth, health fairs, and smoking cessation classes.
The Talbot County YMCA is using the mini grants to fund a reward program for people who complete smoking cessation classes and stop smoking. The program waives the YMCA sign-up fee and offers three months of YMCA membership free.
According to Jane McConnell, Cigarette Restitution Fund Coordinator with Talbot County Health Department, “We are encouraging businesses, sports teams, and churches to apply for funding as their programs are far reaching.” McConnell adds, “The smoking cessation classes we offer are more popular today than ever with the availability of the new drug CHANTIX, which is a neuro blocker that is really helping people quit smoking.”
For further information on applications for the mini grant program or to learn more about free smoking cessation classes, pharmaceuticals, or support and information, contact the Talbot County Tobacco Program, through the Talbot County Health Department, at 410-819-5600 or call the Quit Line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Pictured are school age children of Easton Day Care with site director Shola Olajide, who helped the children create posters for the community to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco.
