Colleges Against Cancer reaches out

Colleges Against Cancer needs volunteers, such as faculty and students, to help plan a nutritional fair.

“For the nutritional fair, we hope to educate college students about all types of health and nutritional issues. We have all heard of the Freshman 15, so we hope to provide answers on how to nutritionally take care of yourself first, then that will lead to helping out with other health issues,” said Kim Benfield, co-president of Colleges Against Cancer. “We have not yet gotten a confirmed date for the fair yet, but we hope to hold it in late September in the Hoke Dining Hall during lunch time. We want to make it convenient for students to get to.”

Colleges Against Cancer is an organization that serves as a collegiate chapter of the American Cancer Society.

“Our purpose is to create awareness about prevention & early detection of cancer, raise money for the American Cancer Society, and educate the community about cancer related issues,” Benfield said.

This year marks its second year as an organization on this campus.

“I’m really excited about this year. I think we will see a lot more programs on campus,” said Kendall Stiles, director of the GIVE Center.

Benfield founded this organization and has watched it grow.

“I was inspired when I attended a National Youth Summit and heard about high school clubs,” Benfield said. “They were out there making a difference and I knew that we, as college students, could make an impact too.”

Colleges Against Cancer strives to educate others on cancer, so that people are more aware of its effects.

“If people are more educated then they are able to detect signs of cancer better,” Benfield said. “Also, each one of us is touched by cancer somehow and CAC provides a support system.”

College Against Cancer hopes to hold at least one awareness event each month, Benfield said.

“We also want to do more with celebrating our cancer survivors and helping those going through the tough cancer issues,” Benfield said. “We are also sponsoring a Youth Advisory Board for the Baldwin community and plan on doing outreach into the other schools in our area.”

The organization also plans to reach out to the community and involve them in certain projects.

“They are trying to start a youth college focus to get college students, high school students and middle students involved,” Stiles said. “I think they will be able to help meet the need of the community. They are a really nice asset for the college and the community.”

Please contact Kim Benfield, in the GIVE Center at 445-5700, or visit the website at www.geocities.com/collegesagainstcancer or email them at collegesagainstcancer@yahoo.com.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 6 2002. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry