relay for life
In response to Ivonne's post, Relay for Life is basically a 24-hour walk/jog-a-thon to raise money for the American Cancer Society. People create teams and throughout the year hold their own fund raisers. For instance, the last one my team put on was an easter egg hunt for the kids in town. It all culminates though in this big event in which the teams have a 24-hour relay, and you take pledges for it. We also have vendors and people come up with really creative ways to get people to donate money. People were selling yo-yo's made out of water balloons, holding matchbox car races, and of course there were kids with lemonade stands. They were in competition, i was lucky enough to be a double agent and hear them talking trash about one another, it was epic. So everyone sets up tents and camps out, and it's just a big slumber party! We had themed walks, which were my favorite. Country western, glow in the dark, pajama's, pageant queen, super heros...tons of fun!
The most moving part of the event though is the luminaria ceremony. We sell white paper bags for a dollar that people decorate in memory of a loved one lost to cancer or who is fighting or has beat cancer. We then set them all out around the track and put candles in them, as well as spelling out HOPE and CURE in lit bags on the grandstands. Everyone takes a walk in silence, and there's a slideshow...it's so moving.
I'm the survivor chair, so i get the honor of being able to do things for the survivors. I put on dinners for them and host events honoring them and encouraging them to get involved, it's really fun. So we had a special survivor lunch at the event, and i got to hear more amazing stories from these cancer survivors. One of my favorites was of this guy who battles and beat prostate cancer. The surgery had gone well and the doctors were monitoring him and then something was going wrong and the doctors told him they were gonna be moving him up to the E.R. without telling him anything about what was going on. So he called his daughter, told her to pray, and she called a bunch of other people really fast and got them to pray. 10 minutes later by the time they got him up to the E.R. the doctors were really confussed. "...your kidney's were failing when we were downstairs but now they're--well they're perfectly fine."
i am extremely exhausted but really satisfied with how it all went. we raised almost $30,000 for the American Cancer Society to finance research and provide services for people with cancer.
The most moving part of the event though is the luminaria ceremony. We sell white paper bags for a dollar that people decorate in memory of a loved one lost to cancer or who is fighting or has beat cancer. We then set them all out around the track and put candles in them, as well as spelling out HOPE and CURE in lit bags on the grandstands. Everyone takes a walk in silence, and there's a slideshow...it's so moving.
I'm the survivor chair, so i get the honor of being able to do things for the survivors. I put on dinners for them and host events honoring them and encouraging them to get involved, it's really fun. So we had a special survivor lunch at the event, and i got to hear more amazing stories from these cancer survivors. One of my favorites was of this guy who battles and beat prostate cancer. The surgery had gone well and the doctors were monitoring him and then something was going wrong and the doctors told him they were gonna be moving him up to the E.R. without telling him anything about what was going on. So he called his daughter, told her to pray, and she called a bunch of other people really fast and got them to pray. 10 minutes later by the time they got him up to the E.R. the doctors were really confussed. "...your kidney's were failing when we were downstairs but now they're--well they're perfectly fine."
i am extremely exhausted but really satisfied with how it all went. we raised almost $30,000 for the American Cancer Society to finance research and provide services for people with cancer.