ONE VOICE WEEKEND: OCTOBER 18-20, 2019 FAITH COMMUNITIES ADDRESSED THE HARMFUL TREND OF TEEN VAPING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Flemington NJ –October 31, 2019) – Each year a topic of interest and concern is identified by One Voice of Hunterdon County, Inc., a faith based prevention coalition. This year the timely topic addressed the harms of teen vaping. In the past year, the Surgeon General declared e-cigarette (vape) use among youth a national epidemic and all 5 regional high schools in Hunterdon County have seen a dramatic rise in teen use of e-cigarettes. According to Peggy Dowd, Program Director for One Voice, “We are beginning to see a whole new generation becoming addicted to nicotine. Not only are we trying to prevent teen use, but also provide resources for those who are already addicted to vaping”.
One Voice is a partner in a countywide project, Hunterdon United for Vape-Free Youth, and is working with the Safe Communities Coalition and community leaders to address the growing concern surrounding youth vaping. One Voice works to provide information, education and resources through our faith communities with the goal of increasing outreach in our community to make informed decisions about vaping.
Rev. Harry Mazujian, Project Outreach Coordinator for One Voice explains, “The power of One Voice is to reach thousands of people in one weekend with an important message that affects our entire community. Ideally, every place of worship would address this issue on the same weekend”. This year, One Voice weekend took place October 18-20. In preparation for One Voice weekend, faith leaders along with community leaders were invited to a summit entitled The Harmful Trend of Teen Vaping: Keys for Faith Leaders and Parents, where they were educated on the topic of vaping, and given materials to be distributed within their place of worship. Each faith leader decides the best delivery/approach for their congregation. Suggested methods to share the knowledge include: preach as part of the Homily/Sermon, host a guest speaker on the topic for Youth Group or Parent Night, incorporate into Religious Education classes, include in Announcements and/or Prayers of the Faithful, insert information in Bulletins, post on Website… or a combination of these suggested methods. All materials were also provided in Spanish.
Places of worship participating in One Voice weekend or that have recently held education events on Teen Vaping include: Califon United Methodist Church, Cokesbury United Methodist Church, First Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hunterdon County, Flemington Presbyterian Church, Flemington United Methodist Church, Frenchtown Presbyterian Church, Grace United Church of Christ, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Victories, Readington Reformed Church, South Ridge Community Church,
St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church, St. Magdalen de Pazzi Roman Catholic Church, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Stockton Presbyterian Church, The Salvation Army and Unity Spiritual Center.
To find out more about One Voice contact us at 609-212-6352 or reach out to Peggy Dowd - One Voice Project Director (peggy@onevoicehc.com) or Fr. Harry Mazujian - Project Outreach Coordinator (harry@onvoicehc.com). For more information, visit our website at www.onevoicehc.com or follow us on Facebook @onevoicehunterdon.
About One Voice: One Voice is a two-way communication process that addresses social issues through our faith communities. The mission of One Voice is to bring together law enforcement and community partners with our faith leaders in order to have “one voice” when addressing social issues such as substance misuse, crime, mental health and the safety of our community.
