The event was one of 250 local events taking place across all 50 states this week. The ACS is gathering nearly 100,000 stories of personal milestones reached by cancer patients and survivors reached by cancer research.
ACS will deliver these stories in hopes of convincing Congress to sustain federal funding for cancer research to Washington D.C. on Sept. 27. Debra Smith, ACS community representative, kicked off the event with an invitation to the refreshments and cancer information.
“We are serving as a lobby group, advocating research funding, smoke-free areas and cancer-patient rights,” Smith said.
She said the reason ACS chose USI was the newly instituted smoke-free campus policy. ACS-CAN has been working with our own Colleges Against Caner (CAC) for the past 7 years.
Together they host Relay for Life. CAC helps to plan the event and provide entertainment.
USI hosts Relay for Life from March 31 to April 1 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in front of the PAC. Terra Hagen, director of ACS in southwest Indiana, said the Vanderburgh Colleges Relay raised $41,000 last spring.
Sara Huskins, CAC promotions chair, said CAC has been advocating for a smoke-free campus since the group was first founded eight years ago. They also host events such as the Great American Smoke Out where they provide cancer information booths and survivorship stories.
“We are constantly doing something,” Huskins said.
CAC holds meetings at 4:30 op.m. Thursdays in the Rice Library room 0011. Those wishing to sign up with ACS-CAN pay a $10 membership fee (a $20 membership fee comes with a free water bottle).
Members receive email alerts of upcoming cancer research advocacy events and are asked to fill-out and forward emails used to advocate the research.
Smith said even if the students only came for the free food, she hoped that they become educated about the movement behind cancer research and become aware of the “passionate people” who are advocating for these causes.
Sophomore psychology major Katie Carroll and sophomore accounting major Kelsey Weideman said they intended on signing the book and possibly attending CAC meetings. Others, such as senior criminal justice major Todd Born and junior elementary education major Michael Holland said they were not really interested in advocacy.
“They should have put the food behind the information booth,” said Born.
