Published: March 17, 2010 06:57 pm      

Relay for Life organizers discuss focus, upcoming events at meeting

By RORYE O’CONNOR

rorye.oconnor@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Organizers and participants in the 2010 Jefferson County Relay for Life are keeping their focus on the reason they Relay.

“I relay because I want to find a cure,” said Roxanne Conley, staff partner for Relay for Life of Jefferson County. “I’ve met so many people fighting against this disease.”

Melody Zoeckler, a co-captain of the Lifesavers Relay for Life team, said she relays because “cancer is stupid.”

“It’s dumb,” she said. “It makes people sad; it makes people hurt. I want to see less people hurt and more people smiling.”

Tina Staples, Relay for Life co-chair, said she relays as an eight-year survivor of breast cancer and a one-year survivor of melanoma.

“I’m sick and tired of going to funerals of people who died of cancer,” she added.

The Relay for Life of Jefferson County currently has 28 teams who are organizing a variety of temptations to urge people to donate.

Some of the events preceding the Relay June 4 at the Mt. Vernon Outland Airport include a Mini-Relay from noon to 4 p.m. March 27 at Times Square Mall, as well as the Taste of Hope April 27. Taste of Hope is a county-wide event where restaurants donate part of their proceeds to Relay teams who get people to eat there.

A few changes are being made to the schedule of events during the Relay, including the luminary ceremony, where donors honor those who died of cancer with a luminary with their name on it.

The names of those who are being honored with a luminary will be read aloud, rather than shown on a Power Point presentation, said Vickie Harvey, Relay co-chair.

Also, luminaries will be anchored with a canned good to be donated to a local food bank rather than sand.

Harvey told the gathered volunteers that she was going to keep a stubborn outlook on putting out the luminaries in a hint of bad weather.

“Those bags really mean something,” she said. “I don’t even want to put them out if it’s misting.”

This year’s goal is $114,114.14 in honor of the event’s 14th year, though about $6,000 has already been raised, Conley said.

For more information, you may contact Harvey at 246-3139 or by e-mail at bzerob08@yahoo.com.