Michelle Lamar says she smoked for 14 years and never knew there was a national day to quit smoking. Nor did she care.“People aren’t going to stop smoking until they’re ready,” said Lamar, a 30-year-old ex-smoker who finally kicked the habit in March when her children looked her in the eye and made a plea she couldn’t ignore.“My son just said I want you to be healthy,” she said. “I just was ready to quit.”When it comes to being unaware of the Great American Smokeout, which is today, Lamar isn’t alone in the Grand Valley.The one-day event started 31 years ago by the American Cancer Society and is intended to encourage smokers to quit the habit for at least one day. The event has numerous public health agencies manning call centers to help people quit.Others, like 22-year-old Tyler Smith, are content to keep smoking cigarettes. He had no idea today was the day to quit. “Really?” a surprised Smith said. “This is the first I’ve heard about it.”Will it be enough to make him quit?“No,” said this smoker of the past five years. “If they were going to give me a million bucks, I’d think about it.”But he realizes his habit cannot go on forever.“Every morning when I’m hocking my lungs up, it crosses my mind,” Smith said.A major thrust of the Great American Smokeout is its “Colorado QuitLine.” Since 2000, 280,000 people have called the line, said Joel Quevillon, a spokesman for the Cancer Society. Of those who call, 40 percent of them remain smoke-free, he said. Compare that to the 3 percent success rate of those who try to quit cold turkey.The Colorado Department of Health also participates in the day. Its quit line is managed by National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver.

The call center serves several Western states and is open throughout the year, averaging about 3,000 calls a month. Although more men than women smoke, of those who call, 40 percent are men and 60 percent are women, said Jodi Kopke, media director for the state health department.Callers get free quit-smoking patches, time with a counselor to help them quit and numerous tips to help them stay on track. “The patches are paid for by tobacco tax dollars; this is a direct benefit that goes right back to smokers,” she said.The Mesa County Health Department does not focus its antismoking efforts on the national nonsmoking day.“This is something we do 365 days a year. We don’t highlight any one day to an extreme because every single day we try to make people quit,” said Cathie Nicholson, program coordinator for the Mesa County Tobacco Education Council, a division of the county health department.Nicholson knows a thing or two about quitting cigarettes.“In my former life, when I was a smoker, there weren’t resources like there are now,” she said. “I had to do it cold turkey.”The council offers quit-smoking classes, quit-smoking kits and plenty of support for those with weary lungs.Despite all the effort being funneled into the day there are those that make a living from smoking, even though they may not smoke.Mel Emmons, a nonsmoker and the manager of Smoker Friendly in Clifton, says the day does not dampen her customers buying habits “at all.”