According to the event posting, the sixth annual National Walk @ Lunch Day, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to promote the health benefits of walking and regular exercise, will be held on Wednesday, April 25.

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina is encouraging workers to participate by wearing comfortable shoes to work and walking for at least 30 minutes during their lunch break. The company also is holding its annual community walks for those near the downtown areas of Columbia, Charleston, Greenville or Spartanburg.

Businesses and schools across the nation organize lunchtime walks for employees and students on National Walk @ Lunch Day. S.C. BlueCross will provide free planning guides and print-ready files for banners, fliers and other promotional materials to help any South Carolina company organize a workplace walk.

By Sarah DuRussel-Weston, a member of the SWARM Youth Council for Policy Change and graduate student at the University of South Carolina

I’m not sure if you’ve heard the buzz about bees at USC… (Sorry, I just CANNOT ignore a pun when I see one!). Students With A Responsible Message (S.W.A.R.M) have established a presence on campus, and we’ve been awfully busy making a name for ourselves. Since we began meeting in January of 2012, we’ve had 7 meetings already, and we will have 3 more before the semester is through.

As mentioned in a previous blog, we had a Film Screening where students from all sorts of majors and walks of life came to watch “Let’s Talk About Sex.”  SWARM USC met up with the rest of the SWARM Council at Bee Day where we talked to our legislators about the common sense about teaching Comprehensive Sex Education- which we commanded the attention of senators and representatives. We recently met up at Walk-A-Mile In Her Shoes which rose awareness for Sexual Assault and Rape Prevention. We represented the necessity for Comprehensive Sex Education in South Carolina Public Schools at Project Condom USC. We participated and helped out our council members from Clemson and Converse at Project Condom Upstate. The list goes on and on. I’m telling you: this campus organization is already getting a life of its own. 

The officials have been selected for next (though we’ll let them introduce themselves in a future blog.). The Buzz is growing. Students at USC are joining the conversation to only fund Comprehensive Sex Education in South Carolina with the 11,000+ Tell Them members and the other SWARM groups sprouting out all across the state.

We may have a road ahead of us to complete this necessary milestone in South Carolina, but we’re not backing down. Make note of SWARM. You’re going to be seeing a lot more of us.  We’ve only gotten started.”

By Leigh Ann Black, a member of the SWARM Youth Council for Policy Change and reigning Ms. Claflin

About two weeks ago Tell Them volunteers, members, and advocates traveled to the State House in Columbia, South Carolina, to lobby members of the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate and urged them to support any and all legislation that expands access to reproductive health information and services.  We also presented each member that we met with a copy of the “Tell Them Bill of Rights.”

I met with Senator John W. Matthew Jr. and Representative Jerry N. Govan who both represented Orangeburg County. Meeting with these two men was a great experience and they both paid a great amount of attention for the short time that I spoke with them, and they made me feel that my voice really mattered. After all, I was speaking not just for myself but for all South Carolinians. These are experiences that I will forever take pride in.  Knowing that I helped to make other voices heard has been a humbling experience.

This was my second time participating in Bee Day. As I approached the steps to the State House, I realized why this was so important to me. Every day, I watch the news and receive updates on my cell phone letting me know exactly how the men who hold positions in Washington DC feel about women. Every day, I become more agitated with the headlines, with governors and with the people who sit on TV and say that “women don’t need contraception” or “Abstinence-only” methods are the only methods that work (NOT TRUE!!!). Who are these people pandering to? I’m a woman and we need contraception, and abstinence-only education leaves young people vulnerable due to ignorance. I’m tired of my policy makers not representing me or my peers. They aren’t representing what’s scientifically proven to be healthiest for young people.

Advocates for Abstinence-only education programs believe that teaching young people about their sexuality is like giving them a loaded gun. The truth of the matter is they are already locked and loaded naturally. (You know, the entire biological system called the reproductive system.)  It’s the only system we expect to be non-functional until a non-tangible concept created by man called marriage has been fulfilled. These ticking time bombs have been exploding in our state for years while Abstinence-only programs reign as king in the South. Teen pregnancy, STIs, and HIV continue to spread due to the direct refusal to disseminate information that would stifle these obstacles to self-efficacy. I speak out; I write letters; I talk to my peers about how flawed our state and the other states around us are for not only continuing Abstinence-only sex education for the youth but also how they are making it more and more difficult to provide accurate information to the youth about things that are completely safe and legal for them to use.

There are some people who make things happen. There are some who watch things happen.  And, there are others who wonder what has happened.  I know which category I fall into…where do you fall?  Let me encourage you to read up on the facts.  You might want to compare poverty levels of states in the South with that of the North and then take a look at their sex education policies.  You’ll find Ab-only states are much more likely to suffer from poor economies, lower high school and higher education completion rates, and higher rates of crime.  Compare the US as a whole which has a relatively high usage of contraception rates among adults to countries in Africa or Asia that don’t, and look at their quality of life.  There is no argument of these correlations.

Please be proactive against your sexual health rights being chipped away at.  Stay informed. Every time you take action on one of Tell Them’s Action Alerts, you make a difference. It puts your legislators in their place—the place you elected them to represent you and responsibility.

Born near Mayesville, S.C. on July 10, 1875, on a rice and cotton farm in Mayesville, South Carolina (Sumter County), Mary Jane McLeod was the fifteenth of seventeen children, some of whom had been sold into enslavement. In order to do their best by their children, her parents sacrificed so they could buy land to farm. After attending college, Mary started a small school for African-American girls with went on to become Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona, Florida. While in Florida she was active with the black woman’s club movement. She also served on the national scene as president of the National Association of Colored Women. In 1935 she founded the National Council of Negro Women, an advocacy group created “represent the national and international concerns of Black women.”

She was invited to attend the Child Welfare Conference called by President Calvin Coolidge in 1928. In 1930 Herbert Hoover appointed her to the White House Conference on Child Health. In 1936 Bethune became the first African American woman to head a federal agency as director of the Division of Negro Affairs and served as Special Advisor on Minority Affairs under Franklin Roosevelt.

Mary’s legacy continues to live on after her death in 1955 from a heart attack.

• - In 1985 the U. S. Postal Service issued a stamp honoring Bethune’s contributions to America.
• - In 1989 Ebony Magazine listed her on their list of “50 Most Important Figures in Black US History”, and named her again in 1999, Ebony Magazine included Mary McLeod Bethune as one of the 100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the 20th century.
• - In 1991, the International Astronomical Union named the Bethune Patera on planet Venus in her honor.
• - In 1994, the National Park Service acquired Bethune’s last residence, the Council House at 1318 Vermont Avenue, NW: the headquarters for the NACW. It became the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site.
• - There is a historical marker in Mayesville, Sumter County, South Carolina commemorating her birthplace.
•     

Dr. Bethune has become the first Black and the first woman of any race to be memorialized by a portrait that will hang permanently in the State House of South Carolina.

One fourth of the annual HIV and AIDS cases in the state occur in women and girls.  Although women do not account for the largest portion of HIV/AIDS diagnoses, it is important to recognize that the majority of women being diagnosed are acquiring HIV through heterosexual contact.  It is essential that men and women, old and young, protect themselves and discuss methods of prevention with their partner.   We must make sure that people feel empowered and have the resources to make healthy decisions. 

At Tell Them, we want constituents to know that they can have a voice in supporting policies that promote their wellbeing and defeating those that cause harm.  Support local and national policies that increase access to testing and treatment services.  In light of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I challenge you to get tested and engage in conversation about HIV with your sister, mother, friend, or family.  HIV/AIDS is preventable and treatable and we must continue to support efforts at reducing the burden of disease for those with and without a positive status.

Tell Them

On Wednesday, the first Tell Them billboards went up in cities across South Carolina, urging passersby to “protect your rights” by visiting our website and taking action.

These billboards will be up through March, and can be found throughout Charleston and Columbia, with two boards in Clemson. Each board carries 1 of 3 messages:

•      – Birth Control is safe, effective and in serious jeopardy
•      – Some lawmakers want to outlaw birth control
•      – Don’t let contraceptives become contraband

We are urging members across the state to keep an eye out for these boards (not too much – we want you to be safe and watch the road!). You can follow the Tell Them billboard sightings on our FourSquare page.

And if you spot a board, PLEASE send in a picture and the location! We’re trying to track them all and need your help to keep the running tally!

And now we’re taking over Twitter!

Tell Them (@tellthemsc) sends out regular updates and tweets- in fact, we usually are tweeting at least 3 times each day! We’ll send out information on anything from interesting articles and inspirational quotes to fun pictures and important facts. We also make sure to retweet our partners’ tweets and will be sure to follow other organizations working in the community.

In addition to following Tell Them on Twitter, our Outreach Team has also taken to using the medium to connect with local constituents and keep them up to date on their activities. You can follow all three of our Community Outreach Coordinators:

• Follow Sondra Bloxam (@SondraBloxam) to stay up to date on the happenings in and around the upstate as well as fun tidbits from her yoga classes and constant monitoring of the University of Michigan sports.
• Follow Shennice Cleckley (@sctheadvocate) to learn more about the midlands and what is happening in Columbia as well as some tips on activities going on throughout the region.
• Follow our newest Outreach Coordinator, Jhornay Evans (@MzLMSW) as she begins working throughout the coastal areas and connects constituents with their legislators.

Follow all 4 Tell Them twitter accounts and Outreach Coordinators to stay up to date with what’s happening throughout South Carolina.

I love voting!

When I was young, my parents would take my siblings and me to the polling place with them and let us “push the buttons.” As we got older, we would get to wear the “I Voted” stickers to school and be all cool. Election Day was a treat- a special day to look forward to.

I waited 18 years to vote, to have a say, to be counted. Now that I have the right to vote, I still find it to be exhilarating, exciting, and the best thing I can do as a citizen of this country. You can ask the workers at my polling place this morning, I LOVE voting.

Ok, yes- I have a degree in American History (with a particular focus on the Revolutionary War, the Constitution and the Presidency), so maybe I like these ideas of civic engagement more than some people. But just because I can recite all the Presidents or sing the words to the School House Rock song “the Preamble” doesn’t make voting any less important.

Casting your vote is not only your right but your responsibility. As a citizen, you pay taxes, you live by a code of laws, and you have the right to decide who helps spend your money and run this system. I would argue that these midterm elections are far more important than Presidential elections (where the voter turnout numbers are typically much higher).

It’s these midterm elections that decide who represents you on a more local level. Who is going to be at the statehouse proposing more education funding and better medical coverage? Who do you want at the Board of Education deciding on the kinds of curriculum your children are taught?

For some, this may be preaching to the choir, but if you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain. Our government is asking to hear our opinions. Tell them what you think! Make sure you vote today.

And if you have any good Presidential, Constitutional or American History trivia, please send it my way. I’m the one proudly wearing my own “I voted” sticker.

The South Carolina Senate voted against the healthcare cuts that passed the House last week. Because of the Senate’s refusal to cut HIV/AIDS funding and cancer screenings, the budget moves to a conference committee, where representatives from both the House and Senate will work together to find a compromise.

The major issue at hand is finding $50.2 million in funding for the South Carolina courts and Department of Public Safety. Originally, the Senate proposed raising and initiating fees and fines for court servies in order to account for $21 million.

But Gov. Sanford vetoed that provision, and the House failed to secure the votes required to overturn the decision. Instead, they proposed ending all HIV/AIDS prevention and drug assistance funding, limiting perscriptions for Medicaid patients and cap the eligability of the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Conference Committee members have been selected and will meet soon to discuss compromises and how to get the budget passed before the legislature adjourns on June 3.

According to the Greenville News, “House Republicans cut $50 million in health programs, including cancer screening, HIV and kidney disease prevention, rural hospital grants, free medical clinics, smoking cessation and trauma centers. Medicaid prescriptions would be capped at three per month, and no new enrollments would be allowed in the state’s health insurance program for children.”

These cuts were made after the House failed to override Governor Sanford’s veto of $20 million in new court fees. Representative Joe Neal (D-Richland) is quoted in the State paper: “It is very clear what the intent of this is. It is punishment for not going along with the vote.”

Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter said that the House has “stuck it to poor people. To heck with the Democrats who care about the poor. It would be funny if it were not so sad.”

Click here to read the article in the State

This loss of funding is catastrophic to the millions of South Carolina tax-payers who are HIV positive and rely on these programs for their medications.

Click here to read more about this story