By Mark Schadenberg
Relay For Life in Woodstock is less than three months away (June 14-15 at CASS high school) and one way to rally participants, team captains and committee members is to conduct a motivational Relay Rally.
Hosted by Quality Hotel & Suites, the Relay Rally on March 20 featured discussion to reinforce the national slogan of: celebrate . . . remember . . . fight back.
However, when keynote speaker Chuck Phelps walked up to the podium, thoughts were about fighting back against cancer as Phelps has been battling a brain tumor for more than 2 years -- a diagnosis even he refers to as being terminal.
Raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) will increase research and improve the odds for patients such as Phelps, who has been on the Relay For Life committee locally since 2006 -- four years before receiving his medical news and his now on-going treatments.
"One day at a time. . . . one community . . . one night," said Phelps. "It's not an assumption -- it's a fact that our fundraising efforts will get us closer to finding a cure for cancer."
Relay For Life theme for 2013 in Woodstock is Carnival For A Cure and one of the national themes is to ask one or: 'The Power Of One' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu2NgqNPK1s)
With that in mind, the local committee hopes to increase it's team numbers from 86 in 2012 to 87 in 2013, which could translate into 870 participants. That number would not include other volunteers or the registered cancer survivors (the Survivor Victory Lap is at 7 p.m.).
The fight to find a cure is long term as depicted by a series of placards on display at the event, noting research advancements through the decades.
"Many of the break-throughs we are seeing today are partly thanks to the research projects of 30 years ago," said Josie Atkinson, fundraising coordinator for the CCS Oxford unit. "In 2012, the (CCS) contributed $46 million to leading edge cancer research."
In 2013, another significant milestone for CCS is celebrating the organization's 75th year of existence and a corresponding slogan to mark this birthday: 'With you in the fight for life.'
Pictured: Chuck Phelps and Josie Atkinson
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To learn more about Relay For Life in Woodstock, plus background information on Oxford County events in Ingersoll and Tillsonburg as well, be sure to read other posts on this blog site. Updates will appear in this space as June 14 approaches, including reminders about captain's nights at Fanshawe College (April 18 and May 15, 6:30), stories about luminary sales, sponsorship, volunteering, the silent auction, registering as a survivor, and the logistics of setting up the camp at CASS. To sign up or sponsor a participant, see: www.relayforlife.ca/woodstock or call the Oxford unit office at (519) 537-5592. If you would like to contribute a story or promote a team fundraiser, send details to: mschadenberg@rogers.com.
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