Deadline nears for QuitPlan Challenge

LUVERNE — Smokers around the state looking for an incentive to quit smoking are encouraged to enter QUITPLAN Services’ third annual QuitCash Challenge for a chance to win $5,000 in cash or other prizes. Minnesotans who are daily tobacco users and 18 years of age or older can enter the contest until Sept. 30, online at quitcash.com or call (507) 283-5066 ext. 3017 for an enrollment form.

To be eligible for prizes, participants must successfully quit smoking by Oct. 1 and remain smoke-free for at least the month of October. Contest participants are encouraged, but not required, to use QUITPLAN Services’ free quit-smoking services, including personalized plans, phone counseling services, online resources and free nicotine patches, gum or lozenges for qualifying individuals.

The winning successful quitters will be announced around the Great American Smokeout on Nov. 18. Prizes include $5,000 cash and runner-up prizes to include a 40-inch HDTV and $500 GameStop gift card, $1,000 Target gift card, nine pairs of tickets to Minnesota Wild games and seven pairs of tickets to various Minnesota Gopher sporting events.

“The QuitCash Challenge is a great incentive to motivate Minnesotans who have been contemplating quitting. It would be fun to see someone from our area as the winner,” said Paula Anderson, Nobles-Rock Community Health Educator and Tobacco Control Coordinator. “Plus, QUITPLAN Services is a great resource that can increase the chance of success through self-paced telephone counseling and access to free nicotine replacement therapy.” The C.H.I.P Coalition encourages tobacco users to take advantage of the QuitCash Challenge.

The C.H.I.P (Community Health Improvement Program) Coalition has been gathering support for continued tobacco control work including highlighting the tobacco industry’s efforts to manipulate and hook young people. The coalition has billboards in Worthington and Luverne showing a young girl with an eye-level view of a tobacco ad at a local convenience store.

In the last several months, the C.H.I.P. Coalition has gathered nearly 800 new supporters for increasing the price of tobacco — one of the most effective ways to keep kids from starting smoking — and for promoting cessation services to help smokers quit. For every pack of cigarettes sold, it will cost $8.85 in medical expenses and lost productivity contributing to a $2 billion burden on Minnesota health care costs every year.

For more information on the C.H.I.P. Coalition, visit www.noblesrockchip.org or call (507) 283-5066 ext. 3017.

Tags: smoking, lifestyle, news