"Steps" ~ Thank You From a Cancer Survivor

"Steps"
written by survivor Bill Stroup after his last surgery finding that he was for the time being cancer free....

The first steps for you were to become involved, complete the registration form and set a goal.

Your sponsor’s steps were to answer your call for help, write the check and support your cause.

One of the many steps of the event organizers were to collect the donations so that, The “American Cancer Society” could take the steps to distribute the funds to the research centers, hospitals and doctors on the front lines fighting this horrible disease.

This funding enabled researchers who discovered the steps needed to create a drug that killed the cancer cells, so that the doctors and hospitals could take the steps using this drug, along with other necessary procedures that would save my life.

Soon I will see my grandson taking his first steps in this journey we call life.

All because of the steps you took by participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

Thank You from a Cancer Survivor.

I think this pretty much says it all....don't you? A big thank you to Marie McCandless, Team Captain of the M & M Melanoma Warriors team for sharing this and a great big thank you to Bill Stroup for writing it!

Do You Know A Deserving Caregiver?

Do you know someone who has shown true devotion, sacrifice, faith and love in the care of a loved one dealing with cancer? Show your love and appreciation for this person by nominating him or her for a special Caregiver Award to be awarded at our annual Relay For Life event.

To nominate a Caregiver, simply:

1. Write 500 words or less in essay form telling the story of why this person is deserving of the award. Do not mention the Caregiver's name in the essay. Please refer to them as him/he, her/she, mother, father, friend, they, etc.
2. Attach your essay to the Caregiver Award Nomination Form which can found on our website www.relayforlife.org/palatrobe under Forms and Reference Material, or at the monthly meeting.
3. Mail your entry by June 10, 2010 to RELAY FOR LIFE AT LATROBE, PO BOX 644, LATROBE, PA 15650

We would like to honor and offer our support to all Caregivers by inviting them to the Survivor/Caregiver Program on Saturday, June 19th at our Relay For Life Event at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. The program will begin at 6:00 PM and the winner of the Caregiver Award will be announced at that time.

Fundraising The Day of the Event

Fundraising at our Relay For Life Event is a great opportunity for teams to raise additional money. Doing some team fundraising at your campsite helps to make your Relay experience fun and entertaining! If you are having a hard time coming up with an idea, here are some ideas for onsite fundraising activities:

Conduct a silent auction - Donated auction items could include sporting event tickets, weekend getaways, and gift baskets.

Balloon Pop - Team members collect prizes as well as donate their own goods or services as prizes. Before filling each balloon, put a not inside with the name of a prize. People receive a balloon for a suggested donation, then pop it to find out what they win!

Caricatures - Do you know someone who is a great artist? Offre caricatures at your campsite for a suggested donation.

Face Painting - Offer face painting for a suggested donation. Always a hit with the kids, young and old!

Sell Snacks - Sell donated snack items, i.e. candy bars, popcorn, hot chocolate, some healthy snacks to fellow Relayers for a suggested donation.

Baked Goods/Food Sale - Sell healthy homemade treats and snacks, fruit, home baked cookies, popcorn....the sky's the limit!

General Store - Have extra campsite supplies available for a suggested donation for people who did not come prepared or forgot something (toothbrushes/toothpaste, extra socks, toilet paper, flashlight, bug spray, sunscreen, baby wipes, pens, tape, scissors, etc.).

Hollywood Snapshop! - Get a cardboard cut-out of a famous person and have your picture taken for a suggested donation. Use the holiday theme you've chosen to help you pick the character!

Mexican Cantina - This would be a great idea if your holiday was Cinco de Mayo! Decorate your campsite in a Mexican theme, have non-alcoholic Margaritas, Relay tatoos, chips and guacamole. Request a suggested donation to join the fiesta!

Holiday-themed Midway Games - Bring the fair atmosphere to Relay! Host games at your campsite that encourage fun competition. Make up a game....use your theme to be creative! People can participate for a suggested donation.

Popsicle Sale - Get a local grocery store to donate popsicles and frozen treats and sell them at your campsite for a suggested donation.

Raffles - Conduct a raffle. Donated raffle items can include small appliances, gift certificates, gift baskets, etc. And if you do decide to hold a raffle, don't forget to complete the Small Games of Chance Application, available on the website, and turn it in to the ACS office.

DVD/Video Sale - How many times can you watch "Forrest Gump"? Sell those old movies at Relay!

Wedding Chapel -Request a suggested donation to "marry" people or renew their vows. Have a wedding cake, wedding photos and wedding bands. Each activity can require a suggested donation or be done as a package deal. Use a stand up cutout of a tux and wedding dress for heads to take a photo. All for fun! (This is not a legally binding activity.)

Fortune Teller - Have a fortune teller at your campsite that will tell people's fortune for a suggested donation.

Plastic Eggs Number Raffle - This would be a great fundraiser for any team who chose Easter as their holiday! Fill plastic Easter eggs with a piece of candy and a number in each. Egg numbers are then pulled from a raffle to win gift certificates and prizes donated from local businesses/restaurants. Eggs were sold 2 for $1.00.

Tent Raffle - Get a tent donated from a sporting goods store and raffle it off onsite. This is a good one for our Relay seeing as we have lost quite a few tents over the last few events due to the weather!

Once you've decided what your team will be fundraising on the day of the event, be sure to create a flyer to advertise all the fun stuff that will be going on at your campsite! And don't forget to include your Campsite number on the flyer. Make 120 copies of the flyer to turn in on Bank Night, June 8th from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Christ United Christ Church in Latrobe. Your flyer will be included in each Team Packet that will be distributed to the Teams on Saturday morning before the start of the event. You will also want to send a list of your team activities to Mandy Newcomer at manda8bear@aol.com to be included in the Event Day Program Booklet.

"won't you celebrate with me"

On February 13, 2010 a favorite poet of mine, Lucille Clifton, died after a long battle with cancer and other diseases. The year before last while attending the Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey, I had occasion to hear her speak and was completely taken with her undeniable quiet grace. I happened upon one of her poems just recently and was reminded how important it is to celebrate every day we are given so I thought I would share....

won't you celebrate with me

won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model,
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.

lucille clifton

Walking For 24 Hours

A Relay For Life event is 24 hours long for a very specific reason. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the 24 hour event symbolizing the fact that cancer never sleeps.
Sometimes, though, with everything else that goes on at an event, such as fundraising, ceremonies and other activities, we sometimes forget about the importance of keeping someone from each team on the track at all times. I was reminded of this recently when I discovered this beautifully written post on relayforlife.org by a survivor that I think it says it all:
"Some people actually think that walking for 24 hours is un-important? OMG! UN-IMPORTANT! Could they be more wrong?
"At a Relay seeing people, Relayers, walking the track is DAMN IMPORTANT! It's that physical display of support and compassion that finally sinks it into the minds of survivors and caregivers that other people CARE, UNDERSTAND, and are walking that hard path cancer hands out with them. The presence of those supporters walking at Relay shouts out that no one has to face cancer alone!"
"There is an emotional impact when one sees that sea of people, crying laughing, and walking non-stop, determined to complete the 24 hours of Relay. They each have this determination for their own reasons, many as a way of paying honor to those they love who have been touched by cancer but whatever their reason may be for walking that track, that public display of support and unity in the fight against cancer is awe-inspiring. I can't put it into words, but the impact of seeing all those people uniting together, well, it changed my life immediately. It made me determined to LIVE MY LIFE, and to pass on the opportunity to experience Relay spirit, of CELEBRATING life, REMEMBERING lives, and FIGHTING for a life, to every single person I meet."
"So you see, showing up and walking that "track" for 24 hours is important! In fact, it maybe the most important thing you give to someone who just heard the words "you have cancer" or kissed a loved one goodbye."
Many thanks to the writer for this important reminder!

Next Week's Spring Event

On Saturday, March 20th, our Relay is holding its annual spring event at the American Legion on Ligonier Street in Latrobe. The "Rock the Night Away & Celebrate It Like A Holiday" with RFL and one of the area's classic rock bands "The Zoo" is going to be a great night for a great cause. There will be 5 different holiday food stations; one each for each of the following holidays, Christmas, New Year's, Halloween, St Patrick's Day, the 4th of July, a Valentine Dessert Extravaganza and a holiday themed Basket Auction. And a great door prize giveaway of a Wii game system! Tickets are $12 a person and can be purchased from Co-Chair Don Heiple. You can call Don at 724-537-0836 or email him at relaydon@yahoo.com for tickets. And for teams looking to make some money for your team, plan to participate in the Valentine Dessert Silent Auction. For each dessert entered on behalf of a team, that team will receive 50% of the dessert's final bid. The top 3 teams whose desserts receive the final highest bids will each receive 100 % of that bid. At the end of the event, bid totals will be submitted to the ACS office to be credited to your team's fundraising total for Relay 2010. Contact Maria Peluso at mwpeluso@aol.com or call her at 724-309-1538 if you are interested in participating. Hope to see you at the event....its going to be a great time!

Golda's Gifts

Our Relay Online Fairy Godmother, Golda has been busy visiting websites again and donating $10 to some great Relay Online Personal Pages. Congratulations go out to Megan Clark from the KC-AC team who was the first one to use the new Personal Blog feature, Karen Smetak from the Cause We Care team, whose personal page content brought Golda to tears, and most recently, to Kayla Faith from the Mustard Seeds team, and Jeannette Wolfe from the M & M Melanoma Warriors team, whose personal pages are great examples of using the Relay Online Personal Page to tell their very own "Why I Relay" story. Congratulations on a job well done to all of the lucky winners! And to all of you out there who have not taken the time to personalize your web page, or for that matter, haven't sign up online yet, Golda wants you to know that she will be making suprise visits all through the Relay season, so there's still time to personalize your personal page with own "Why I Relay" story. Add a personal photo and use the blog feature to add personal notes, advertise your team's upcoming fundraising events, and more! Share your passion for the cause by sharing your own personal Relay experience with everyone who visits your page.