2013-2014 Advocacy Calendar
SEPTEMBER Childhood Cancer Awareness Month National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Prostrate Cancer Awareness Month Back to School Fair: Have students that are interested in Colleges Against Cancer (CAC) and/or Relay For Life sign up for more information by signing a petition instead of a typical sign up sheet. Advocacy Kickoff Rally: Host an Advocacy Kickoff to get CAC members and other students pumped for the new school year! Advocacy Training: Dedicate time in one of your CAC meetings to train your members on advocacy and ACS CAN. Have petitions and show pictures from your state lobby day to show the advocacy fun people can get involved in. Invite an ACS CAN staff from your state or the State Lead Ambassador (SLA) to lead the training. You will build a relationship with advocacy leaders and be training the leaders of the future! HELPFUL RESOURCE Check out the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network s (ACS CAN) webpage acscan.org to stay up to date on state and federal campaigns. Advocacy is always changing! Remember you have both federal and state legislators. Reach out to your Federal legislators when talking about national issues and reach out to your state legislators when talking about issues specific to your state. 2
OCTOBER National Breast Cancer Awareness Month acscan.org/breastcancer Paint the Campus Pink: Decorate your campus pink in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Try to get your cafeteria to dye their food pink too! Tell a Friend Campaign: Encourage students and friends to sign petitions urging lawmakers for increased funding for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. Prevention + Early Detection = Lives saved. Mammograms: Tell your legislator to support federal programs that help ensure all women have access to life-saving mammograms. Bra Drop By: Get a group of students to visit your lawmaker s office. Go in one by one, introduce yourself, ask for increased funding to your state s breast cancer prevention fund or the federal program, and deliver a bra. By the end of the day, the office should be full of bras. You can attach a letter to the bra too! Note: You may be speaking to the lawmaker s staff member, who is equally important. CAC Highlights University of Minnesota: Saving Second Base 5k Each fall, the U of M puts on their Saving Second Base 5k. They make t-shirts with creative slogans, raise money through the registration fee, provide food and a yoga class, have breast cancer facts everywhere, and do an advocacy ask of having people sign signatures to protect their state s mammography program for uninsured women. (Picture above.) University of Wisconsin Madison: Breast Fest UW-Madison hosts a week of breast cancer mission and advocacy events. Their events are Bros in Bras, a restaurant fundraiser, t-shirt sales with slogans such as Big or Small, Let s Save them All, a breast cancer panel with an oncologist, nurse, survivor, and researcher, as well as a day devoted to ACS CAN and the need to ensure access to affordable mammograms for all women. Their campus was completely painted pink! (Picture below.) 3
NOVEMBER Lung Cancer Awareness Month acscan.org/smokefree cancer.org/smokeout The American Cancer Society s Great American Smokeout (GASO): Take part in ACS GASO! It takes place on the third Thursday of November. Encourage smokers to use that date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day. Add the activities below to make it a mission and advocacy event combined! Be Thankful You Have a Voice Cards: Send cards to your legislators and urge them to support anti-tobacco legislation because those who have passed away from lung cancer no longer have a voice. Black Balloon Activity: Pop a balloon every 8 seconds symbolizing that another person has passed away from a tobacco-related disease. Chemicals Chalking: Write down the 69 cancer causing chemicals that are in cigarettes on a well-known area of your campus. Cold Turkey Bowling: Make bowling pins look like cigarettes and buy a turkey so people can quit and go cold turkey bowling! Give suckers as prizes and connect tobacco facts and cessation resources onto the suckers. Cigarette Boxes to Legislators: Ask people to write their cancer story on cigarette boxes (or pictures of cigarette boxes) and send them to lawmakers urging them to support anti-tobacco legislation. T-Shirt Fundraiser: Use creative slogans such as Don t be a butthead, just put out, I put out, or I kicked butt today! to sell t-shirts for an ACS CAN fundraiser. Cards to Your President: Make cards saying why you want your campus smoke-free and deliver them to your school s president. Make hundreds and have lots of people sign for a greater impact. 4
DECEMBER Holiday Wish Video: Make a video for your holiday wish. Base it around a specific legislative initiative or school issue, and send it to your lawmaker or school president. This can be done for any holiday! Candy for Thought: Pass out candy canes with advocacy information connected to them. Finals Package to Team Captains: Send finals stressrelief packages to Relay For Life team captains with ACS CAN information and advocacy facts. Eight Days of Advocacy: Each day can be a different advocacy specific day (ex: Picture a Cure, Facts Day, Email Legislators Day, etc.) Holiday Cards: Send holiday cards to lawmakers reminding them of the importance of cancer research and screening programs. Winter Break Assignment: Give your committee an assignment to research and familiarize themselves with the ACS CAN website and important campaigns in their state. HELPFUL RESOURCE Contact your State Lead Ambassador or ACS CAN staff in your area to see what state-level advocacy initiatives they need help with. They always love help from college students! 5
JANUARY National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month Great American Health Check New Year s Cards: Send new year s cards to elected officials reminding them of the importance of the fight against cancer. This is also a good time to extend them an invitation to your Relay For Life event! January Relay For Life Team Captain Meeting: Add an advocacy component to your team captain meeting. For instance, you can show ACS CAN videos and how to take action through acscan.org. Invite them to also become ACS CAN members. Cervical Cancer Month Petitions: Inform students on the importance of early detection and prevention when it comes to cervical cancer. Have people fill out petitions to protect funding and authorizations for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. HELPFUL RESOURCE Get your college s pre-med and medical students involved! They re a great resource to have on board. Check out non-partisan advocacy organizations such as the American Medical Student s Association (AMSA). FEBRUARY Valentine s Day Cards: Send Valentine s Day cards to your elected officials reminding them to increase funding for cancer screening and research so they can prevent their loved ones from ever having to hear the words You have cancer. Support the Ones You Love Day: On Valentine s Day, host a Support the Ones You Love Day by wearing red or pink and visiting your local lawmakers offices. Urge them to support important pieces of legislation that are currently going on in your state. Visit acscan.org to find your state and what is going on! Pair this up with a restaurant date night fundraiser for Valentine s Day lovebirds! President s Day: Host a chapter meeting on President s Day and have members write letters to their elected officials telling them that cancer must be a national priority. You can also have chapter members outline what the President has done for cancer patients and survivors during that meeting. State Lobby Day: Whether your state s lobby day is in February or another month, participate! The voice of college students is needed, and you get a chance to advocate on behalf of cancer patients at your state s capitol! Contact your local ACS CAN staff to get details on how you can participate. 6
MARCH National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month acscan.org/coloncancer National Nutrition Month CAC Highlights University of Pennsylvania Get Fit Fight Back 5k U Penn holds an annual 5k on campus to promote their Relay while also raising awareness about staying fit and active. Participants receive healthy breakfast foods and t-shirts! You can pair up national nutrition month and colorectal cancer month by giving out information on living a healthy life and having people sign the colorectal cancer petitions. Team Captain Recruitment: Continue trying to recruit Relay For Life team captains to become ACS CAN members. Show/give them information about ACS CAN successes that directly affect them such as the passing of Michelle s Law. Health Fair: Host a health fair on your campus. Have nutrition facts and information about healthy living available for students, petitions related to colorectal cancer early detection and prevention, and a laptop set up so students can send action alerts to their legislator. Utilize social media and make an official #hashtag for your event. Tweet mission and advocacy related information with that hashtag. Slip, Slop, Slap, Wrap Event: Ask students to sign a letter to their legislators banning teens under the age of 18 from using tanning beds. (Note: Check with your staff partner to see if this bill Spring Break Pledge: Ask students and/or CAC committee members to pledge to do one advocacy act during spring break. 7
APRIL THE FACTS National Cancer Control Month Cover the Uninsured Week Testicular Cancer Awareness Month Almost 46 million people are uninsured in the U.S. and at least 26 million are underinsured. Nearly 8 million young adults (those aged 18 24), are uninsured, representing 28.1% of their population. Young adults make up the largest age segment of the uninsured. Cover the Uninsured Week : Have a booth with information on health insurance, health insurance changes, and uninsured Americans. You can incorporate that information into games. At the event, you can have a raffle where the proceeds go to ACS CAN. Have tables also set up with petitions and handouts. You can also set up laptops for people to send emails and/or action alerts to legislators. Protect Your Balls Dodgeball Tournament: Host a dodgeball tournament to raise awareness about testicular and prostate cancer. Charge a registration fee for teams to join, handout t-shirts and snacks, and have petitions for people to sign about detection and early screening. Teams get very creative with their team names! Relay For Life Advocacy Table: Make sure to set up an advocacy table at your Relay For Life event. You can spread awareness about legislation and recruit ACS CAN members this way. Have prizes for people who sign up! Make sure to have interactive activities and ways for students to take action. Fight Back Speech: Hold a Fight Back speech during your Relay For Life. Add an advocacy component to the speech. You can fight back on behalf of a piece of legislation that is currently going on in your speech. Pair that up with Zumba afterwards and you have a great ceremony! 8
MAY Skin Cancer Prevention and Detection Month Mother s Day Cards: Send Mother s Day cards to campus/city/state mothers or female officials reminding them of the importance for funding national screenings for breast and cervical cancer and cancer research. Teen Tanning: Spread information on the dangers of tanning and melanoma. If your state is currently working on tanning legislation, have people sign petitions saying that they want to ban tanning for people under the age of 18. Kent State University CAC Highlights Kent State tabled in their student center to raise awareness about tanning bed legislation in their state. They had students sign Don t Get Burned postcards to send to their lawmakers and did a social media blitz about the legislation as well! Year End Reports Don t forget to send in your Year End Reports to cac@cancer.org by June 1st! We love hearing your advocacy activities and showing them off to the rest of the schools. SUMMER Bring Advocacy Home: Encourage chapter members to recruit ACS CAN members while at home. You can even have a competition to see who can recruit the most members. Stay Up to Date: Make sure you stay up to date on advances in legislation in your state and on the federal level. Advocacy is always changing. Renew and Take Action: Don t forget to renew your ACS CAN membership every year and take action when you receive Action Alert emails. Recognize your accomplishments as a committee and as a school! You have put a lot of time and effort into fighting back throughout the whole year! Kick back and relax for a bit! 9