Youth group deserves kudos for tobacco work
Regarding North Carolina getting an ěFî on its anti-tobacco efforts:
Since 2003 the Rowan County Health Department has received funds from the N.C. Health & Wellness Trust Fund to educate youth on the dangers of tobacco use. Currently, Rowan-Salisbury Schools have 11 school-based TRU Clubs (Tobacco Reality Unfiltered) that meet monthly and plan school-based tobacco-free activities like tobacco prevention educational booths at sporting events, pledge walls, cigarette butt clean up, anti-tobacco poster contests, participating in national tobacco prevention campaigns like Great American Smoke Out, Kick Butts Day, TRU Week, Thru With Chew Week, announcements, media campaigns and much more.
We also have a community-based youth council, Youth In Action Against Tobacco Council (YIAATC), that is a countywide club open to any Rowan County middle/high school youth.
Our goal is to educate and promote youth to be tobacco free in our schools and communities. We participate in La Fiesta de Rowan and Blues & Jazz festivals and go into the schools, churches and other organizations and teach tobacco prevention.
YIAATC meets monthly and plans for tobacco prevention activities in Rowan County. Each year, we host a tobacco-free game show involving all six middle school TRU clubs.
The TRU campaign and TRU teens are definitely making a difference in Rowan County. The best thing about TRU is its peer-to-peer led. The teens are trained extensively in tobacco prevention topics and then they go out and educate and make presentations to other youth.
YIAATC has won several statewide and county awards and received recognition from the N.C. Health & Wellness Trust Fund for our projects and work. We are a passionate group of young people who work hard to reduce teen tobacco use.
If you’d like more information or to schedule our youth council to come to your meetings, schools, or organization please contact us at 704-216-8849.
ó Robyn Rivers
Salisbury
Vegan resources
Thank you for your recent article about veganism. My family and I are vegan and live in Spencer.
Salisbury does have some vegan options: Subway, Olive Garden, Monterey Mexican Restaurant and Zakis; just ask to hold dairy items such as cheese and sour cream.
Tastebuds offers soy like Starbucks, but unlike Starbucks its flavored syrups are all vegan.
Food Lion used to carry vegan items like dairy free cream cheese, sour cream, and butter, but no longer do, to many peopleís dismay. Simply Good has many alternatives. You can find a nice selection of faux meats and deli slices at Harris Teeter. For those that do cook, like me, the Literary Book Post has a good selection of vegan cookbooks in stock and will order anything that they donít have.
Veganism can be made easy in most any city.
ó Melissa Blount
Spencer