Cancer fight grows $300,000 stronger after Relay for Life
Published: June 12, 2005
The tents have been packed away and the walkers have gone home, but the 2005 American Cancer Society Relays for Life in Porter County aren’t quite over.
At closing ceremonies Saturday morning, both committees announced record-setting totals but cautioned that donations and matching funds will continue to flow in for several weeks.
Serenaded by the Great Lakes Sound Chorus of the Sweet Adelines, two dozen walkers from the handful of remaining teams circled the track at the Porter County Expo Center for the final hour.
That included a lone Klingon in full battle dress, striding in the morning sun as the rest of the team from MAV Firesword, an area Star Trek club, struck camp.
“We had somebody on the track all night, including our survivor,” said Maquis Admiral Be’jen, the persona of Cindy Faraone of South Haven.
Also among the last groups to leave was Team Aldi, with about half a dozen of its 42 members sticking it out to the end.
“The rest are home sleeping. Everybody walked a half-hour to an hour,” said Skip James of Valparaiso. He said he did a double shift, walking from 1 to 3 a.m.
Individual and committee fund-raising activities continued throughout the 18-hour relay, but one of the most welcome donations came from Mother Nature and didn’t count in the dollar total, according to event chair Jen Abatie.
“We had a storm coming in about 7 p.m. last night. The wind turned; it got cold; and we had dust devils at one end of the track. Then it just disappeared all of a sudden, and there was this beautiful rainbow left,” she said.
She said the combination of heat and humidity hadn’t taken any toll among the walkers.
“We went through a ton of water, more than ever before,” she said.
The perfunctory closing ceremony consisted of Abatie reading the numbers: 42 teams, 1,125 walkers, and net donations of more than $119,000, just passing last year’s relay-day total.
That total will continue to grow for three or four weeks, Abatie said.
Relay officials voiced appreciation for the use of the fairgrounds.
“This venue has been ideal. (Lonnie) Steele and the Fair Board have been very accommodating,” media chairman George Kuehler said.
A more elaborate ceremony closed the relay at Willowcreek High School in Portage, where more than 100 participants gathered in the entertainment tent at the finish line for the presentation of awards and announcement of totals.
“You have a spectacular event here,” said Jim Puente, executive director of the ACS Northwest Indiana service center.
Team chairman Mark Jones said a most-ever 56 teams had raised slightly less than $175,000, this year’s goal, and the committee had yet to count corporate matching funds.
Once again, school teams dominated the fund-raising, with Portage’s Central and Kyle elementaries topping the list at $11,000 and $8,360, respectively.
A first-time entry, the team from the River Forest Schools, placed second at $8,400.
In fifth was South Haven Elementary at just more than $7,000, edging Portage Township rival Saylor Elementary by $200. Ten teams exceeded $4,300 each.
The Portage High School Indianettes were first in laps walked, with 2,178, and also took the Spirit and Pacesetter awards.
Walking in memory of his late wife, John McClure was individual leader with 120 laps.
Picking up the Creativity Award for their campsite decorations were Cindy’s Stompers, a team from the Valparaiso Wal-Mart that walked in Portage because it’s the home of the team leader, Jones said.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: