Our team joined hundreds of people who came together to raise awareness and funds to fight for healthy lungs and clean air. It was a great opportunity to educate Californians about thirdhand smoke.
January 29, 2020
By: Lucia and Lydia Greiner, DrPH
Center Coordinator, Thirdhand Smoke Resource Center
The American Lung Association says “LUNG FORCE Walks are a time to laugh, learn and imagine a world free of lung cancer and lung disease. The walks promote fitness and help forge lasting connections between participants.” This was certainly true for Team Thirdhand Smoke.
The walk was an opportunity for us to meet people from other organizations that work to promote healthy lungs and clean air for all. We were especially pleased to see the San Diego Humane Society busy educating animal lovers about protecting pets from exposure to toxic second- and thirdhand smoke. We were also pleased to get to talk, one-to-one, with so many local residents who cared about clean air and had many questions about thirdhand smoke.
One thing that struck all of us on the Team were the number of people who told us about their experiences with thirdhand smoke. Some were relieved to learn that their experiences were not imaginary—that there is a real “thing” and it’s called thirdhand smoke, the toxic residue that remains after smoking has stopped.
Fighting for healthy lungs and clean air is not any easy thing to do alone; the Walk is an annual event to come together as a community to make a difference. The Walk was successful—reaching 99% of the fundraising goal of $300,000. Team Thirdhand Smoke was happy to be part of this event!
Click here to visit the Lung Force Walk webpage.