We have surpassed our $10,000 goal!!!
Our total is $10,052.38. Great job ladies!!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Community turns out to make 'cancer walk the plank' for Relay for Life
It was less than a week ago when Danni Guinn and her mother, Wendy Guinn, found themselves in the American Cancer Society's Discovery Shop and inspiration struck.
”We just decided, why the heck not?” Danni Guinn said, explaining that, at that moment, she and her mom decided to form a Relay for Life team -- just five days before the big event.
About two years ago, Wendy Guinn was diagnosed with Stage 2 cervical cancer. Last Monday, she and her daughter decided it was time to give back.
So on Saturday, with a pirate flag in hand and a patch over one eye, Danni Guinn joined hundreds of others whose lives have been touched by cancer and walked the track at College of the Redwoods.
”We're the pirates of persistence, making cancer walk the plank,” Danni Guinn said, with a laugh, before seriously talking about how much the event meant to her mom. “She's very bright today.”
The 25th annual 24-hour event kicked off at 10 a.m. Saturday, as Humboldt County participants joined millions across the country in celebrating the lives of those who have battled cancer, remembering loved ones lost and fighting back against the disease that has brought havoc to countless lives.
Funds raised from the event help fight cancer in the local community.
Many said that even sagging local and national economies have not reduced the generosity of the local community, which they said has continued to offer pledges for the event in record numbers.
Local event chair Kathryn McHugh said the annual fundraiser would simply not be possible without the generosity of local businesses, like Wildberries, which sponsored KHUM's 24-hour broadcast from the event.
Noting that the list of sponsors and donors was too long to name, McHugh said a special thank you to CalFire, which supplied the staff to cook three meals to be provided to relay participants.
McHugh said the event is all about celebration, and honoring the people, like the Guinns, whose lives have been connected by this horrible disease. With that, tears began to flow down McHugh's face.
”Anyone who works with cancer patients never wears mascara -- we cry all the time,” she said, smiling through the tears. “You might hear a happy story, you might hear a sad story, but you always cry.”
And as the Survivor Lap indicated, nearly everyone at Relay for Life -- big or small, young or old -- has a story.
Cindy McWhorter said she was walking for her sister, Jane, who died of lung cancer in February after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor 18 years earlier.
”Jane had the most incredible attitude and sense of humor, and she was not going to let this beat her,” McWhorter said.
Standing beside the track as the survivors finished their lap to open Saturday's event, Edna Seitz of Eureka said she doesn't have cancer, but wanted to support the cause. Saturday, she found her story.
”It's just wonderful,” she said with tears in her eyes as she watched dozens of cancer survivors pass by. Some, too young to walk, were carried on their parents' shoulders. Others, too old or frail to make the lap, were pushed in wheelchairs.
”It just tears at my heart strings,” Seitz said.
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard (Posted 7/12/09)
Monday, July 13, 2009
Relay For Life 2009
Well it's the Monday after Relay and we all survived!
The Relay weekend started off on Friday with set-up at 12pm. Karen, Cindy, Lorelei, Whitney, and myself had to pack all of our stuff (and it was a lot) across the CR football field to our campsite. Once we got all of our stuff(tents, tables, chairs, sleeping bags, etc) over there we began to set-up the tents. The first pop-up tent that we tried to put up was broken :( so after struggling with it for a little while we took it down and put up the 2nd pop-up tent. That one was much better! Then we started putting up our big 8 person tent aka the Vacation Home. We must have looked like we needed some help because the CA prisoner guys that were there helping came over to help us. They put our tent up very quickly! After we got everything set-up at the campsite Karen, Whitney, and I went to Fortuna to pick-up our grand prize, the BBQ that Fortuna Ace donated. I was soooo scared that the BBQ was going to fly out of my truck on the highway but we made it with no problems thank goodness. Since I didn't want to deal with getting to our BBQ to the campsite in the morning I talked Casey into going back to CR with me to help get the BBQ to our campsite. I bought a little padlock on our way there so I could lock the BBQ in our tent. I didn't want our grand prize to go missing :)
I stayed up until 1am finishing most of the little details and baking a birthday cake for Whitney. The next morning, Saturday, I got up at 6:30am, finished anything I hadn't gotten done the night before, and headed to the track. I arrived at the track at 8:45am. With the help of Cindy's garden wagon I was able to unload my truck and haul the stuff across the track to our site. I wasn't all that excited to be sweating at 9am but it's for a good cause right! :) The rest of the team started getting there around 9:20am. We put up all of our signs and got everything ready to sell.
The Survivor Lap kicked off Relay at about 10:30am, a little bit late but that's ok. The Survivor Lap was very emotional. There were young survivors, old survivors and every age in between survivors. I found myself choking back tears as I watch parents holding their very young survivors in their arms or on their shoulders. I find myself almost in tears as I write this remembering the Survivor lap and their little faces. I can't even imagine what those kids and parents have gone through. God bless them all!
We all hung out and walked at our designated times on Saturday. The Luminaria's started to be lit around 9pm and we went and found our Lumianaria bags. The Ceremony of Hope started at 9:30pm. They honored community members that had recently lost their fight, a caregiver that has gone above & beyond, and a US soldier that was diagnosed with cancer after he got home from Iraq. It was very special and emotional when we got to see our loved ones pictures on the big screen.
We continued walking through the night, even when it started pouring! Rain in July?! What's up with that Mother Nature??
We started packing all of our stuff up around 8am. Everything was sooo wet :( We continued walking until about 9:30am when they stopped everyone. We had everything packed up by 9:30am thanks to Darl (Megan's boyfriend), Casey (my boyfriend), and the rest of the team so when Relay ended at 10am we were ready and very willing to head home.
We drew the winning tickets for our wonderful prizes at 9:30am. The grand prize winner was sooooo excited to have won the BBQ. I was excited that THEY came to get it and we didn't have to take it anywhere :) The winners of the Spa Day Package & the 49er Package were at Relay which made it very easy. The only one that wasn't there was the lady who won the Dinner & Movies for 2 package which was just 2 gift certificates so I stuck them in the mail this morning. The prizes worked out very well.
I wanted to give a BIG thank you to Fortuna Ace Hardware, Body in Balance, Like Nobody Else, Shane McWhorter, and Bill Chino for donating our fabulous prizes. We couldn't do this with out you!!
I encourage EVERYONE to participate in Relay somehow. You can join a team, start a new team, donate to a team, come to the event and support the teams there, volunteer, etc. It seems like the attendence & money raised keeps going down every year which I think is very sad. Cancer affects 1 in 3 people..I can't think of a better cause to support.
All in all it was another great Relay and I couldn't of asked for a better team. I thank you ladies from the bottom of my heart. I truly appreciate all of your hard work and hope you'll will join me next year!!
The Relay weekend started off on Friday with set-up at 12pm. Karen, Cindy, Lorelei, Whitney, and myself had to pack all of our stuff (and it was a lot) across the CR football field to our campsite. Once we got all of our stuff(tents, tables, chairs, sleeping bags, etc) over there we began to set-up the tents. The first pop-up tent that we tried to put up was broken :( so after struggling with it for a little while we took it down and put up the 2nd pop-up tent. That one was much better! Then we started putting up our big 8 person tent aka the Vacation Home. We must have looked like we needed some help because the CA prisoner guys that were there helping came over to help us. They put our tent up very quickly! After we got everything set-up at the campsite Karen, Whitney, and I went to Fortuna to pick-up our grand prize, the BBQ that Fortuna Ace donated. I was soooo scared that the BBQ was going to fly out of my truck on the highway but we made it with no problems thank goodness. Since I didn't want to deal with getting to our BBQ to the campsite in the morning I talked Casey into going back to CR with me to help get the BBQ to our campsite. I bought a little padlock on our way there so I could lock the BBQ in our tent. I didn't want our grand prize to go missing :)
I stayed up until 1am finishing most of the little details and baking a birthday cake for Whitney. The next morning, Saturday, I got up at 6:30am, finished anything I hadn't gotten done the night before, and headed to the track. I arrived at the track at 8:45am. With the help of Cindy's garden wagon I was able to unload my truck and haul the stuff across the track to our site. I wasn't all that excited to be sweating at 9am but it's for a good cause right! :) The rest of the team started getting there around 9:20am. We put up all of our signs and got everything ready to sell.
The Survivor Lap kicked off Relay at about 10:30am, a little bit late but that's ok. The Survivor Lap was very emotional. There were young survivors, old survivors and every age in between survivors. I found myself choking back tears as I watch parents holding their very young survivors in their arms or on their shoulders. I find myself almost in tears as I write this remembering the Survivor lap and their little faces. I can't even imagine what those kids and parents have gone through. God bless them all!
We all hung out and walked at our designated times on Saturday. The Luminaria's started to be lit around 9pm and we went and found our Lumianaria bags. The Ceremony of Hope started at 9:30pm. They honored community members that had recently lost their fight, a caregiver that has gone above & beyond, and a US soldier that was diagnosed with cancer after he got home from Iraq. It was very special and emotional when we got to see our loved ones pictures on the big screen.
We continued walking through the night, even when it started pouring! Rain in July?! What's up with that Mother Nature??
We started packing all of our stuff up around 8am. Everything was sooo wet :( We continued walking until about 9:30am when they stopped everyone. We had everything packed up by 9:30am thanks to Darl (Megan's boyfriend), Casey (my boyfriend), and the rest of the team so when Relay ended at 10am we were ready and very willing to head home.
We drew the winning tickets for our wonderful prizes at 9:30am. The grand prize winner was sooooo excited to have won the BBQ. I was excited that THEY came to get it and we didn't have to take it anywhere :) The winners of the Spa Day Package & the 49er Package were at Relay which made it very easy. The only one that wasn't there was the lady who won the Dinner & Movies for 2 package which was just 2 gift certificates so I stuck them in the mail this morning. The prizes worked out very well.
I wanted to give a BIG thank you to Fortuna Ace Hardware, Body in Balance, Like Nobody Else, Shane McWhorter, and Bill Chino for donating our fabulous prizes. We couldn't do this with out you!!
I encourage EVERYONE to participate in Relay somehow. You can join a team, start a new team, donate to a team, come to the event and support the teams there, volunteer, etc. It seems like the attendence & money raised keeps going down every year which I think is very sad. Cancer affects 1 in 3 people..I can't think of a better cause to support.
All in all it was another great Relay and I couldn't of asked for a better team. I thank you ladies from the bottom of my heart. I truly appreciate all of your hard work and hope you'll will join me next year!!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Relay Event
The Eureka Relay for Life event is this weekend at the College of the Redwoods track.
It starts at 10am on Saturday & ends at 10am on Sunday.
Our team will be selling raffle tickets for some really awesome prizes, Save the Ta♥Tas t-shirts, car magnets, & pins, and some other cancer awareness items.
We'll be there for a full 24 hours so come say hi and make a donation to help support a GREAT cause!
Please come out a support us and all of the other Relay teams fighting to find a cure for cancer.
It starts at 10am on Saturday & ends at 10am on Sunday.
Our team will be selling raffle tickets for some really awesome prizes, Save the Ta♥Tas t-shirts, car magnets, & pins, and some other cancer awareness items.
We'll be there for a full 24 hours so come say hi and make a donation to help support a GREAT cause!
Please come out a support us and all of the other Relay teams fighting to find a cure for cancer.
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