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Date: August 22, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
August 22, 2005
 
Church of the Brethren Benefit Trust celebrates 'no smoking' decision
 
August 22, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- The next time you sit down to eat in a KFC  or

Pizza Hut restaurant, you may notice something is missing--second-hand smoke.

 Yum! Brands, parent company of the two fast-food chains, based in 
Louisville,  Ky., announced Aug. 12 that "no smoking" signs will be going up
across the  
country beginning immediately. The new policy affects the 1,200 KFC and 1,675

 Pizza Hut restaurants owned by the company. Franchisees will be encouraged 
to  adopt their own smoke-free policies.
 
At the Yum! annual shareholder meetings in 2002, 2003, and 2004, the Church  
of the Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT) presented a resolution seeking a 
no-smoking  policy in response to the 1981 Church of the Brethren Annual
Conference  
statement on tobacco. Although the resolutions did not pass, they did bring
the  
issue of second-hand smoke to the attention of the company's board and	
management, according to a Yum! representative.
 
"We applaud Yum!'s decision and celebrate with our Brethren Foundation	
clients and Brethren Pension Plan members whose investments in stocks provide
 the 
opportunity for BBT to engage in socially responsible investment  
initiatives," said Wil Nolen, BBT president. "This action is proof that small
 voices can 
make a difference."
 
The nearly $400 million BBT manages consists of assets from 200 Brethren  
Foundation clients and retirement monies of more than 4,000 Brethren Pension 

Plan members. BBT manages about $1.17 million in Yum! stock.
 
At the 2004 annual meeting of Yum! Brands, BBT representatives were joined  
by Jennifer Hollifield of the American Lung Association of Kentucky. In 
response  to the Yum! Brands announcement, she said, "It's great to see that
Yum! 
Brands	is being proactive and taking the initiative to make their
restaurants  
smoke-free."
 
Yum! Brands has more restaurants around the world than any other company.  
Its Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, and A&W All-American Foods chains are  
already smoke-free in company-owned restaurants within the US.
 
"We are taking this action today to help heighten awareness of second-hand  
smoke issues raised by US Surgeon General, Richard Carmona, who has indicated
 
second-hand smoke may be harmful and hazardous to the health of the general  
public," said Gregg Dedrick, KFC president, and Peter Hearl, president of
Pizza 
 Hut, speaking Friday during a press conference. "In our opinion, going  
smoke-free is simply the right thing to do."
 
For more information about BBT and its ministries, go to 
_www.brethrenbenefittrust.org_ (http://www.brethrenbenefittrust.org) .
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
*****************************************************************
The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
Newsline  stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the
source. 
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