A woman with smoking-related lung disease fears for her life. A young boy longs for the company of his grandpa. A man who lost most of his jaw to throat cancer knows he has to live this way for the rest of his life.

These are just a few of the people to be featured in The Rapides Foundation’s “Faces of Tobacco,” a new campaign that highlights real people who have been affected by tobacco use. The campaign, which runs from February through November, is designed to demonstrate the far-reaching effects of tobacco use.

Twenty Central Louisiana professionals graduated on Nov. 19 from Cenla Boardbuilders, a Community Development Works program that trains emerging leaders to become active in their communities as members of nonprofit Boards of Directors.
Community Development Works is a program funded by The Rapides Foundation.

The Rapides Foundation’s board of trustees awarded approximately $800,000 in grants to fund evidence-based physical fitness and healthy eating programs in nine Central Louisiana public school districts.

ALEXANDRIA - Wendy Roy, program director of The Rapides Foundation's Cenla Medication Access Program, has won the Louisiana Legislative Women's Caucus Foundation's 2009 Women of Excellence Award in the health and medicine category. Awards were presented at the Women of Excellence Awards Gala on May 6 in Baton Rouge.