August will bring a wrap-up meeting for the the 18th-annual Steubenville Area Relay for Life sponsored by the Jefferson County Unit of the American Cancer Society held June 22-23 in Wintersville.
That's when the announcement will come about how much individual teams raised, and awards will be presented accordingly.
Kyle Elder and Dan Wood co-chaired the relay that many people agreed had a high-energy feel to it, and having the round-the-clock music provided by Anthony Bailey of Movin and Groovin Productions certainly contributed to that.
Article Photos
Best educational message won by Wintersville United Methodist Church in Road to Recovery lap — from left, Linda Nolf, Michele Purviance, Dianne Landberg, Mary Jo Ross and Betty Isaly
The relay may have fallen short of its goal - an ambitious $165,000 had been set - but at the relay's closing meeting, the announcement that $128,532.72 had been generated is surely not a chunk of change to sneeze at.
It's hard to be discouraged when that kind of money is being raised for research, education, advocacy and patient services.
The total could go higher between now and the August meeting since the relay collecting runs from August to August.
At any rate, here are a couple things I want to be sure and say about the relay.
-- Karen Lundquist walked the most distance - 33 miles - but here's the deal. She makes it a point to walk one mile for each year of her age in memory of her mother, June Lundquist Connor, who died of breast cancer. Karen not only walked at the main relay, but she also walked 32 miles during the course of the 17 mini Relays for Life area schools organize.
-- Wintersville United Methodist Church won the best educational message award, imploring people "not to be chicken" about getting mammograms and other cancer screenings. They got their message across on the bus they made and decorated for the Road to Recovery lap and their team members walked with plastic cups decorated as chickens and capable of producing a buck-buck sound. Very clever, those Methodists!
Hats off to all those who helped make the relay something special.
