Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 40, Issue 7


Volume 40, Issue 7. Today is .

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Volume 40, Issue 7.
December 3, 2002

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Mike Evans receives Peervention gift
Photo by Dan Smith
Tobacco consultant Mike Evans receives a gift from Peervention volunteers after his presentation on Nov. 21

Spotlight Have you ever seen someone you love get puke vacuumed out of their lungs, or had to bring roses to someone on Valentines Day two days after they have gone through cancer surgery? Tobacco awareness consultant Mike Evans has experienced these things and believes that if the tobacco industry had to do likewise they might have second thoughts about pushing their product.

Evans spreads his anti-tobacco message to mostly elementary and high school aged kids, but for the second time in his career he spoke to a college level audience about the harm of tobacco. The “Smoke Out,” took place in the Kiva Room of the Kirk Center on Nov. 21. The event was sponsored by MCC’s Peervention program.

Evans explained in the beginning of his presentation that if people left feeling like they were being lectured during his lesson he had failed, because what he really wants to do is share a story. By having a wife who battled tobacco induced cancer three different times in her life and losing in the end, Evans has plenty to talk about and knows the tragedy of the terrible disease. Brandishing only a few statistics on overheads and a quilt made by some of his students, Evans kept the audience captivated with his emotional and painful story. The quilt Evans brought harbored the words, “forever love, forever peace,” and was supposed to be buried with his wife, but she told him to use it to help persuade people not to smoke. For information about the Peervention visit their website at: http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d09/peervention/certify.html.