{"id":2607,"date":"2026-06-10T09:45:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2026-06-10T09:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:50:18","slug":"over-2000-adventists-in-caraga-region-mobilize-for-world-no-tobacco-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/?p=2607","title":{"rendered":"Over 2,000 Adventists in Caraga Region Mobilize for World No Tobacco Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Northeastern Mindanao Mission leads a massive health initiative across 27 venues, trading cigarettes for fresh fruits and promoting wholistic wellness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUTUAN CITY, PHILIPPINES [ANN]<\/strong> \u2014 Close to 2,000 Seventh-day Adventist Church members, leaders, and health advocates across the Caraga Region took to the streets and community centers on May 31, 2026, to observe World No Tobacco Day, an annual global initiative organized by the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The massive region-wide campaign was spearheaded by the Health Ministries Department of the Northeastern Mindanao Mission (NeMM), under the leadership of Director Pastor Jessril Gallo. Spanning three provinces within the Caraga Region, the synchronized event was simultaneously activated across 27 distinct venues, demonstrating the church’s widespread commitment to community health education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership by Example<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The campaign saw unprecedented support from the mission\u2019s headquarters, with administration and office personnel leading by example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Rafael De Domingo, Executive Secretary of NeMM, highlighted the unified corporate effort behind the initiative. According to De Domingo, the mission\u2019s leadership and office staff organized themselves into three dedicated Care Groups to ensure a direct, hands-on presence across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Our commitment to health starts from within,” Pastor De Domingo stated. “For this year\u2019s World No Tobacco Day, we are proud that our officers and staff fully immersed themselves in the campaign. By distributing ourselves into three specialized Care Groups, everyone\u2014from our administrators to our office staff\u2014was actively on the ground, supporting the community, and driving home the message that a smoke-free life is a blessed life.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Trading Smoke for Substance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
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The event kicked off in the early morning hours with a high-energy “Fun Run” at various locations, symbolizing a collective journey toward vitality and physical freedom from addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond advocacy marching, the campaign introduced a highly practical and creative intervention: the “Cigarette Exchange.” At various designated booths, local smokers were invited to surrender their cigarette packs in exchange for wholesome gift packs and baskets of fresh fruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative aimed to give community members a tangible, immediate taste of a healthier lifestyle while opening doors for deeper conversations about tobacco cessation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Wholistic Mission<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a long-standing history of promoting preventive medicine and healthy living. Support for World No Tobacco Day aligns directly with the church’s wholistic philosophy that the human body is a temple, deserving of care in mind, body, and spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local health leaders expressed hope that the relationships built during the 27-venue campaign will pave the way for ongoing community-based lifestyle programs, helping individuals break free from tobacco dependence permanently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To view more media updates and photos from the 27 venues across the Caraga Region, visit the official Northeastern Mindanao Mission Facebook page.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northeastern Mindanao Mission leads a massive health initiative across 27 venues, trading cigarettes for fresh fruits and promoting wholistic wellness. BUTUAN CITY, PHILIPPINES [ANN] \u2014 Close to 2,000 Seventh-day Adventist Church members, leaders, and health advocates across the Caraga Region took to the streets and community centers on May 31, 2026, to observe World No Tobacco […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,39],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-events","category-featured-story","tag-news","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/no-smoking-day-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/no-smoking-day-600x450.png","author_info":{"display_name":"WebAdmin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2613,"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions\/2613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nemmadventist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}