Employee of convenience-store chain named Ky. Healthy Policy Champion for helping prevent tobacco sales to underage buyers

Albert Gray

Albert Gray of Five Star Food Marts has been named a Healthy Kentucky Policy Champion for his contributions to preventing the sale of tobacco products to underage consumers of the convenience stores.

The award is given by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky gives the award to recognize Kentucky individuals and organizations engaged in improving the health of people in their communities and/or the state through policy change.

Gray, now retired, was a human-resources and operations assistant at Five Star, which is based in Bardstown.

"Albert was an integral part of enacting a policy that required all FiveStar employees to receive training each year through the online Kentucky Tobacco Retail Underage Sales Training (TRUST) Program," Steve Cambron, director of the program that enforces age restrictions on tobacco-product sales, said in his nomination of Gray for the award.

Gray served on the TRUST advisory council to ensure that the training content was effective, made a Five Star store available for training videos, and has been a voluntary consultant to the program. "Thanks to his enthusiastic support, the TRUST program has been successful in reaching over 6,500 retail staff throughout the state," Cambron said.

Five Star has maintained a 97.6 percent compliance rate for tobacco inspections by the Food and Drug Administration, according to Koleen Slusher, director of the behavioral health in the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. She said Gray "continues to share his expertise with our staff to guide their outreach to other tobacco retailers," and "has made a lasting contribution to our efforts to reduce underage youth access to tobacco and nicotine products and the harmful consequences associated with them."

Gray said, "I know one thing to be true of all addictions: Prevention is the absolute first line of defense."

Gray, of LaRue County, is now eligible for the Gil Friedell Health Policy Champion award, which comes with a $5,000 grant from the foundation to a Kentucky-based nonprofit of the winner's choice. The winner of the Friedell award will be announced later this month.

Nominations for the Healthy Kentucky Policy Champion Award are accepted at any time. See details on the foundation's website.