Relay raises impressive funds for cancer research.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – All participants including the fundraising teams have collected an impressive sum of money to support the cancer research of the American Cancer Society during the Milpitas Relay For Life event.
The Relay was organized last weekend and gathered over 160 participants. The main purpose of this event, besides raising funds and awareness, is to gather people throughout the United States to support, encourage, and inspire one another.
Everyone should be helped in the battle against cancer, so the Relay provides everyone with this great opportunity of spending time together. The 19 teams that signed for the Relay have raised around $60,000.
The money will be used to offer cancer fighters medical assistance and to support the efforts of scientists from the American Cancer Society, who are trying to develop new treatments and a cure for various types of cancer.
The event first took place in 1985, when one person raised around $30,000. But not the funds had the most impact but that person’s initiative that eventually turned into a tradition which is now worldwide spread.
This year’s event took place at Murphy Park on Yellowstone Avenue, which was a surprise for most participants because the Relay is usually held at the Milpitas Sports Center’s track. According to Tamara Overacker, Milpitas Relay for Life organizer, everyone enjoyed the new location even more than the previous one.
The event was 24 hours long, and it consisted of many recreational activities such as survivor stories, performances, prizes, games, music, food, and contests. Also, a luminaria ceremony was organized at sunset, when people lit up candles to honor the ones they lost to the disease.
Besides raising awareness and funding the cancer research, participants celebrate survivors, encourage cancer fighters, and honor the people who passed away. One of the many cancer survivors participating in the event was Stephanie Welker, 14-year-old Milpitas resident, and a 10-year cancer survivor.
She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer when she was just two years old.
Nowadays, the joint efforts of Stephanie, doctors, and her mother, Lisa Welker, have paid off, as Stephanie is doing much better and brings her contribution to the Relay to support cancer research and to raise funds and awareness.
The next fundraising event will be called “Road to Recovery Car Show” and it will be organized on August 7th, at the Beverly Heritage Hotel, 1820, from 9 am to 3 pm.
Image Source:Ann Arbor