Zombies to Visit State House on Kick Butt Day

Wednesday, March 18, is Kick Butt Day, when thousands of youth across the U.S. will take action to raise awareness about tobacco addiction and the need for tobacco prevention.

As part of the day’s activities, Rep. Arthur Handy (D-Dist. 18, Cranston) will host a roundtable discussion at the State House, to be attended by state legislators and youngsters who will be participating in a Zombie Walk later in the day. The roundtable session will be held from 3:30 to 4 p.m. in Room 207 of the State House.

Tobacco Free Rhode Island, in partnership with the RI Department of Health, is hosting this second annual Kick Butt Day Zombie Walk, which will run from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. About 150 high school students from more than a dozen Rhode Island communities will walk through downtown Providence, dressed as zombies of dead smokers who have returned to tell the living to quit or to never start smoking.

The youth​ zombies will pass out fact cards on smoking and cessation resources to the public as they walk through the capital city. They will stop at several places along the walk route to celebrate tobacco-free policies, including stops at theProvidence City Hall steps to cheer Providence's recently enacted smoke free parks policy, and at the CVS store in the Providence Place Mall on Francis Street to cheer CVS Caremark's tobacco free stores policy.

Representative Handy said he is looking forward to the zombie visit and encourages his colleagues in the House and Senate to participate in the roundtable discussion so they can hear directly from the young activists about policies that can reduce and prevent youth smoking and tobacco use, and ways the young people can support those policies.