Relay coming to MG High school

By Eve­lyn Long -

“Relay­ers raise the money. The money builds research, Research kills can­cer, there­fore, RELAYERS KILL CANCER” — a quote from Dr.Gordy Klatt

Con­nie Mat­tingly, coor­di­na­tor of the 2012 Mor­row County Relay for Life, asks “Did you guess what all the pur­ple and sil­ver stream­ers were hang­ing in all the villages? “

She said “This was just one of the activ­i­ties dur­ing our ‘Paint the County Pur­ple’ week.”

Pur­ple is the color of Relay and it sig­ni­fies HOPE for the per­son with can­cer. This year’s Amer­i­can Can­cer Society’s Relay for Life of Mor­row County is almost here. It will take place with an open­ing cer­e­mony at 6 p.m. Fri­day, July 27 and con­clude on Sat­ur­day, July 28 at the Mount Gilead High School track. This is a FREE fam­ily fun event. There will be food, games for the kids, raf­fles, music, fun laps and activ­i­ties, edu­ca­tion about can­cer pre­ven­tion and theme laps through­out the 18 hours to keep every­one awake and moti­vated to keep walking.”

“We relay for 18 hours because can­cer never sleeps and nei­ther do we,” said Mattingly.

“This is everyone’s chance to make a dif­fer­ence and help raise money for the Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety. Relay for Life raises money to help carry out the Amer­i­can Can­cer Society’s mis­sion, which is to find a cure for can­cer. All of the money raised in Ohio will stay in Ohio and 81% of all money raised goes directly to the cause, whether it be in research or ACS ser­vices, pre­ven­tion and education.”

Can­cer sur­vivors are the guests of honor at Relay. A spe­cial ban­quet will be held on Fri­day, July 27th at 5 pm. If you are a can­cer sur­vivor and did not receive an invi­ta­tion to the ban­quet please call Rose­mary Lev­ings at 419–560-1273.

Fol­low­ing the open­ing cer­e­mony, the can­cer sur­vivors kick off the Relay event by walk­ing the first lap. They are joined on the sec­ond lap by their care­givers. Then the fun begins.

Close to 30 teams will have camp sites set up where food and snacks can be pur­chased, games can be played, a tat­too can be made, or raf­fle tick­ets can be pur­chased for their give-a-way. Fri­day evening’s events include a Ms. Relay for Life Pageant, where one never knows who might be seen in an evening gown com­pet­ing for first place. There will also be ‘Danc­ing with the Sur­vivors” where one pays to dance with a can­cer survivor.

The Lumi­naria cer­e­mony will take place at 10 pm on July 27. Lumi­nar­ias are bags lit “in honor of” of “in mem­ory of” a loved one or friend with can­cer. A lumi­naria can be pur­chased at the event for $10.

“This year we are cel­e­brat­ing and remem­ber­ing our pets who have sur­vived or lost their fight with can­cer,” said Mat­tingly. A pet lumi­naria is $5. Mes­sages to heaven, the White Bal­loon launch, has become a tra­di­tion dur­ing the lumi­naria cer­e­mony. A helium filled white bal­loon can be pur­chased for $1 and write a mes­sage to a loved one in heaven. Dur­ing the dark­ness of the lumi­naria cer­e­mony, the bal­loons are launched with a spot­light on them as they drift towards heaven.

Through­out the night, there will be a vari­ety of games and fun laps. Auc­tion items will be on dis­play dur­ing the event with the auc­tion tak­ing place Sat­ur­day morn­ing at 8 am. There will be plenty of activ­i­ties through the remain­der of the morn­ing. The clos­ing cer­e­mony will take place at noon on Sat­ur­day, Juoy 28.

For more infor­ma­tion, or how one can par­tic­i­pate in Relay for Life, con­tact Con­nie Mat­tingly at 419–560-0062.

Posted by Taylor Kaser on Jul 25 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.