CHENANGO COUNTY – The Relay for Life of Chenango County, an annual event, was once again held in the Chenango County Fairgrounds this past Saturday July 18. This fundraising event to help cancer research has been a major success in past years.
“The entire experience is humbling, emotional and leaves you feeling happy that you lived today with your community of survivors. They are all warriors. Everyday is a gift, live and take the time to smile at someone, anyone who needs help, even if they do not ask,” said Gloria Scottie Decker, cancer survivor.
Despite a very emotional and heartfelt afternoon for all involved, the fundraising side of the event went above and beyond as they have raised a total of 115,880 dollars and growing each day. The last day to make a donation to the Relay for Life of Chenango County is this coming Saturday, August 25, and can be done on their website.
This year a small twist was added, the Relay for Life walk went from an overnight event in previous years, to an all-day event, in an attempt to draw even more support from the community.
“Regardless of the time, every year we come together to celebrate our survivors, remember those that have fought a hard journey, and fight back,” said Teri Currie, Co-Captain of the Mad Hatters Team. This team helped to raise a total of $14,000 dollars, making them the top fundraising team of the year.
In past years, the event would start around dinner time and run till the late hours of the night. Instead the event ran from 10 a.m. until Midnight of last Saturday. This never seemed to stop people from participating in this fund raising cause. Survivors and guests alike lined the walkway around the main exhibit building in an effort of support around this cause.
“We first put out a survey to find out which time people liked better, so we got the results and the majority wanted to try daytime, so that’s why we decided to move it to the day time. It’s the same amount of hours just distributed differently. Teams wanted to try it and we wanted to try something to get the community involved more,” said Helen Gregory, American Cancer Society Staff partner.
Three main events lined the afternoon as the main attractions and most heartfelt moments.
The Survivor Dinner, which was fully sponsored by New York Pizzeria, was well attended with 127 survivors, which brought 110 guests as well. Much like last years Survivor Dinner New York Pizzeria drew many positive comments from those who were present.
