Resolve to SAVE LIVES in 2010 - Lead the Fight Against Tobacco

As 2009 draws to a close, you may be reflecting on your resolutions for the New Year. This year, resolve to save lives by leading the fight for a tobacco tax increase in 2010!

The American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society have joined together to raise California's tobacco tax through a ballot initiative: The Hope 2010 - California Cancer Research Act (CCRA).

The CCRA would increase the state tobacco tax by $1.00 a pack and invest the revenues in cancer research, and in tobacco prevention and enforcement programs. We are aiming to qualify the measure for the November 2010 statewide ballot.

Email Megan.Lara@heart.org if you want to help!

As a You're the Cure Advocate you may know that we have made more than a dozen attempts to increase California's tobacco tax. Most recently we attempted to raise the tax by $1.50 in the State Legislature, which unfortunately failed this past September. California's current 87-cent a pack cigarette tax is the 31st lowest among all 50 states.

Here's where the increased funds from CCRA will go:
- 60 percent will go to research efforts to prevent and treat cancer and other smoking-related illnesses such as heart disease and stroke
- 23 percent will fund smoking cessation, tobacco use prevention, and enforcement of anti-tobacco laws/anti-smuggling
- 15 percent will pay for facilities and equipment to support research
- No more than 2 percent will be spent on administrative costs

We need advocates like you to step up and take the lead across the state. Are you interested in taking part in activities in your county that would support this life-saving campaign? Please e-mail megan.lara@heart.org for more information and we will follow up with you no later than the first week of January.

Thank you for your continued support of this issue. When the CCRA passes on voting day, you will know that YOU made a difference and YOU saved lives!

You're the Cure Challenge - Update and Materials

When we announced our You're the Cure Challenge, many of you responded that you couldn't wait to get started!

You've already help to recruit 210 new advocates towards our goal of 500 new You're the Cure advocates this fall! What great progress in the first month!

We now have the following materials available for download that will help you recruit your friends and family members:

• E-Mail Template: A sample e-mail that you can use to help you recruit your friends and family online. Don't forget to keep a record of those who tell you they signed up online!

• You're the Cure Talking Points: This document is full of suggestions on how you can explain You're the Cure to your friends, family and people you meet.

• You're the Cure Sign Up Sheet: Signing people up in person? You can use this sheet to do so!

• American Heart Association Policy Priorities: This document provides a great overview of the issues that You're the Cure advocates lobby for.

Together, we are building a strong network of volunteers who will band together and hold our legislators accountable to citizens affected by heart disease and stroke!

Click here read more about this challenge and our participant prizes. You can also e-mail me or call me at (916) 446-6505 with any questions you have about the You're the Cure Challenge.

Please mail your completed You're the Cure Sign Up Sheets to:

American Heart Association
Attn: Megan Lara
2007 O Street
Sacramento, CA 95811

You Made a Difference with SB 600

California’s 2009 Legislative Session came to a close on Friday. Unfortunately, we did not see a tobacco tax increase signed into law this session. Click here to let your legislators know that we won’t be giving up any time soon: http://www.capitolconnect.com/yourethecure/letter.aspx?AlertID=14156.

Your support for this life-saving legislation has been tremendous and has laid the groundwork for upcoming opportunities. For this, we couldn’t be more thankful to you!

We truly came together to fight Big Tobacco and no one can deny that our Legislature felt the heat! You sent over 14,000 e-mails and attended hundreds of meetings in support of SB 600; you also wrote letters to the editor and made countless phone calls to your legislators.

It’s about time CA increased its tobacco tax and you helped make that perfectly clear. Please e-mail your legislators today and tell them that we will not give up on this issue; we cannot give up on the lives it will save.

Reminiscent of the words of the man who I believe will one day sign into law a tobacco tax increase, “We’ll be back!”

You're the Cure Challenge, are you up for it?

Our You're the Cure Networkers have contributed to the fight against heart disease and stroke by advocating for public policy changes.

To have even greater success in the fight against heart disease and stroke we need your help to recruit more passionate You're the Cure Networkers!

For the next two months, I am asking you to be a part of the You're the Cure Challenge! I challenge you to help recruit 500 new advocates in California by October 31st!

Your e-mails, phone calls, letters and meetings have encouraged elected officials to strengthen tobacco control, improve the chain of survival and the quality and availability of care, and promote obesity prevention in our schools and communities.

You know how fun and easy it can be, so encourage your friends to do the same! It takes the support of many committed members like yourself to pass meaningful legislation.

In the upcoming months, I will provide you with ideas, resources and materials that you can use to recruit your friends, family members, coworkers and community members to You're the Cure.

You will even qualify for prizes by recruiting people:

• You're the Cure Friend: Register 10+ new advocates & receive recognition on the You're the Cure Blog.
• You're the Cure Partner: Register 25+ new advocates & receive an official award certificate.
• You're the Cure Heart Hero: Register 75+ new advocates & receive an official award certificate and a You're the Cure T-Shirt.

You're the Cure Advocate with the most registrations collected will be highlighted in an upcoming You're the Cure Quarterly!

Our voice will be stronger and louder at the Capitol with each new advocate recruited.

Together, we will build healthier lives, free of heart disease and stroke!

Meet Mark Miller from Stockton, CA

With California's Lobby Day less than 2 months away, you may be considering joining us in Sacramento. CA Lobby Day brings together You're the Cure advocates from across our state and we truly hope you can join us.

We'd like to introduce you to Mark Miller, a long time advocate from Stockton. Mark was happy to share his Lobby Day experiences with you. Enjoy his story below and click here to register today.

YTC: How did you get involved with You're the Cure?
Mark: Pretty much by having a heart attack, 4 stents and open heart surgery. To survive it, be put on billboards showing that having a heart attack does not have to be the end of the world, but can be the start of a whole new one. Went to Lobby Day in Washington DC and was really excited to see so many people from so many different backgrounds all on the same page. Its amazing what can be done when everyone wants the same thing.

YTC: What motivated you to attend our first Lobby Day?
Mark: The Stockton American Heart Association invited me to speak. I thought that if somehow we could get the message across that all of us are just a heartbeat away from having heart issues, and to focus some attention to that cause...why not? I had my picture taken with Cruz Bustamante, the Lieutenant Governor at the time.

YTC: Tell me about your experience as a Lobby Day Volunteer
Mark: In Sacramento, it was my very first experience of anykind with the American Heart Association. I met great people. I found out that the senators and assembly people are all just like the rest of us...they have the same hopes and fears that we have regarding heart issues, and they too have family members that need help.

YTC: What is your favorite memory of a past Lobby Day?
Mark: In Sacramento, Cruz Bustamante asking me to be photographed with him holding up one of the posters that St Joseph's made of me. In Washington DC, Diane Feinstein asking me and another stroke survivor to be photographed with her, and Hillary Clinton asking for one of my posters for her to give to her husband. He and I had the same surgery.

YTC: Why do you think it is important to participate in events like this?
Mark: It's crucial that survivors take part. People have to know that there is a future after heart disease. Actually, what could have been the worst day of my life, turned out to be the best day of my life.

YTC: Any other words of encouragement?
Mark: Hey listen, listen to your body, take care of it. If you do, it will take good care of you too.
I feel better today at age 63 than I ever did at 33.