REAL at the Maui Great American Smokeout

The Maui News
KAHULUI – The annual Great American Smokeout, a nationwide event created by the American Cancer Society to encourage smokers to quit, will be marked on Maui with a family event from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Maui Mall in Kahului.

Door prizes, food booths, interactive health awareness tables and live entertainment by One Inity and Lia Live will be featured at the free event, presented by The Coalition for Tobacco Free Maui. Mayor Alan Arakawa will open with a proclamation; Zumba by Rayo McPhee will follow.

Winners of the “Smoke-Free Cars = Healthy Kids” art contest will be presented by Sen. Roz Baker and Council Member Don Couch. The contest was open to all Maui County students in grades 6 to 8 to help build awareness that secondhand smoke in cars is harmful to everyone’s health, especially those who are ages 17 and younger.

Other Great American Smokeout events include REAL students on Couch’s morning talk show Tuesday and presentation to juniors and seniors at Baldwin High School on Wednesday, sign-waving by MEO Youth Service students on Thursday, Lahainaluna High School’s Health Fair and GASO Awareness Jam at Kalama Park on Friday. There will be a quit information table at University of Hawaii Maui College’s Paaina building Thursday.

For more details on the Hawaii Tobacco Quitline and other cessation programs, visit www.clearthesmoke.org.