Relay For Life nears its yearly goal
For team Marty's Marchers, Saturday's Relay For Life event was a particularly emotional and special one honoring the loss of an important member of their team.
Nikki Clune, team member, said this year the group, made up of members of Lutheran churches in the Butler County area, was walking to honor Cheryl O'Day, who recently passed away from pancreatic cancer. Clune said O'Day was an integral member of their team.
Marty's Marchers joined 18 other teams at the Butler Farm Show Grounds comprised of hundreds of community members, churches, businesses and school districts, to continuously walk for 13 hours with the goal of raising $80,000 to fund local programs through the American Cancer Society, while paying tribute to those who have lost their battles with cancer, and honoring those still fighting the good fight or beat the disease.
“The meaning is, cancer doesn't stop so neither do we,” Megan Ratica, event leader, said.
Ratica said teams had raised $77,811 at the start of the 26th annual event, which is held every year as a culmination to the organization's yearly fundraising efforts. Teams raise money by gathering pledges, holding individual fundraisers throughout the year, and activities at the annual event, such as raffle baskets, selling refreshments and even a dunk tank.
“We are starting today higher than what we raised last year,” she said, saying $76,000 was raised in 2017.
She said team Marty's Marchers, which had a goal of raising $30,000, had come in at $27,408 at the start of the event, and was the largest fundraising team of the year.
“Last year we raised $25,000, and the year before that I think we raised about $20,000,” Clune said. “So it has snowballed very quickly.”This years theme was “Game On! The Cure Starts Here” and changed from a 24-hour event to a 13-hour event. Activities included new additions, such as kids activities; Burgh Bubble Soccer, which involves participants getting inside giant inflatable bubbles and knocking into each other; new food truck additions and DJ trivia. Other activities included a kids and adults paint party, Taekwondo demonstrations, a magic show performed by Al Mazing of Glenshaw, DJ music by DJ Jazzy Jeffrey and a “Touch a Truck” activity where children could learn about police and fire department vehicles and equipment.Ratica said the event even included a special lap held at noon, which involved up to 750 kids from Center Township Elementary and Northwest Elementary schools who participate in the “Relay Recess” program.Ratica said funds raised stay in the community and are used to help fund programs such as the Road to Recovery, by which volunteers through the American Cancer Society transport cancer patients to and from appointments, and the Look Good Feel Better program, in which cosmetologists and beauty professionals teach those going through treatments how to deal with hair loss and beauty tips.“We look forward to a day when we don't need to relay, when the cure will be found, but until then, we walk,” Ratica said.The event also included a survivor dinner, where survivors and a guest were honored with a meal catered by Texas Roadhouse and Mazzanti's Beans and Cream, while the Bono Band, made up of students from the Butler Area High School, serenaded them with jazz music.The event culminated with a luminaria ceremony, to “honor, remember and celebrate” those who have died, survivors or those who are currently fighting their battles against cancer.
“That is a very emotional, reflective time,” Ratica said.Lauren Demek, of Cabot, said her team Cheryl's Cancer Crushers, which is new this year, was named in honor of her mother-in-law, Cheryl Demek, who just recently won her fight against cancer.“She is an inspiration to all of us,” she said.Cheryl Demek said the Relay For Life event is one that has touched her personally, and she wanted to give back.“I struggled for a year and a half, and that support was always with me. I am clear now, and this cause is a passion of ours,” she said. “It is a way to pay it back for me. God gave me this chance, and I was going to do something productive with it so other people don't have to hear those words 'you have cancer.'”Cheryl Demek said her team made wish bracelet, with the intent of creating about 20 to 25 and raising about $50. But demand was so high they have now sold close to 850, raising more than $1,500.Ratica said cancer touches everyone's' lives in some way or another, and she is no different. Her family's team, Crawford's Crusaders, includes her aunt Lisa Rider, of Lexington, S.C., a 5-year cancer survivor.“It is quite a milestone,” Rider said.Rider said the family first became involved in Relay For Life after both her father and brother died from cancer, and two years later she was diagnosed with colon cancer.“This cause is very near and dear to my heart,” she said.
