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Relay raises $171K for CCS

June 21, 2013   ·   0 Comments

On Friday, June 14 a very special event took place in Alliston. Many people in the community are very aware of this event as it has been running for the past 9 years. Whether you have volunteered to help, signed up to walk, or donated towards the cause, you all know what a rewarding event this is.  The 9th Annual Relay for Life took place this past Friday and Saturday. Participants started out Friday evening at 7 p.m. by welcoming and supporting the survivors as they opened the event with the Survivors Lap which is an extremely emotional start for all those involved.  The evening went forward from there as the Relay for Life participants walked all night long. There was some amazing events during the evening including balloon animals for the kids, foot massages for survivors, “iSpy With my Little iPhone”, and best of all Miss Relay for Life. The track at the 8th Ave Youth Centre was well lit around 10pm by the Luminaries. For $5 a Luminary could be purchased along with a personal message in honour or in memory of a loved one touched by cancer. A beautiful way to acknowledge and remember the ones that have been touched by such an awful disease.

The night proved to be dry for the walkers at the same time being very cool at times, but the walkers proved to be fighters as they carried on with pride until the early hours of the morning.  The walkers are required to be a part of a team and they commit to walking the full twelve hours between Friday night at 7 p.m. until Saturday morning at 7 a.m. “It was an amazing yet emotional night. There were many tears. Most were sad tears and some were happy tears,” explained Lori-Anne Cadeau, team Sassy Sistas, who recently had lost her sister to soft tissue sarcoma.

A very special team from Ernest Cumberland came out to walk for one of their colleagues, Mrs. Susan Pursiainen.  She was in attendance last year but was unable to walk. She supported them all by watching close by from a house that backed onto the event. “Mrs. P” could see all the team and watched them walk and she would wave to them as they walked by. She sadly passed away only few months ago to pancreatic cancer but now watches her team from an even better location and supports them everyday.

This years Relay proved to be yet another successful event.  “We had 57 teams this year and the tally as of the time the “banking” group left the building was $171,000. There will still be monies coming in and online pledging is open until November,” Sarah Bruce, Relay Chair, told us the night of the event. The Relay for Life has proven to run very smoothly throughout the years thanks to an amazing committee and its members. Sarah continued to tell us “the committee is made up of ‘10 Chairs’ and several co-chairs and extended members that dedicate their time throughout the entire year for promotional activities, planning and working with our many sponsors from the community to make our event the best experience for our survivors and our teams that we possibly can.”

Next years event will take place from Friday, June 13, 2014 to Saturday, June 14, 2014 from 7 p.m. – 7 a.m. Information, donations and registrations are already open for the 2014 event at www.relayforlifealliston.ca

By Kara Percy

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