Relay For Life starts Friday

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — Cancer survivors, family members, friends, and area residents are invited to support each other this weekend in the fight against cancer.

Gallup’s annual Relay For Life will begin at 5 p.m. Friday at the Gallup Sports Complex and will run all night long until its conclusion at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Relay For Life, which is held in communities across the country, is a benefit event to support the educational and research work of the

American Cancer Society. It’s held overnight to symbolize the nonstop fight against the disease of cancer. Community members join Relay teams to raise money throughout the year and to come together for Relay For Life to celebrate the lives of cancer survivors and remember those who have lost their battle with the disease. There is no admission charged, and participants can attend for some or all of the scheduled events.

“Relay is for everybody ... so the whole town is invited to come,” said Linda Shelton, the new volunteer event chair for the Gallup organization.

This year’s theme is the Wizard of Oz inspired “There’s No Place Like Hope.” Relay teams can decorate their campsites to coordinate with the Oz theme, and according to Shelton, several teams have changed their names to be more Oz-like: The Flying Monkeys (Civil Air Patrol), Go Team Go Tornados (First American Traders and Go Team Go), Jewels of Emerald City (city of Gallup), The Munchkins (Bank of America), The Scarecrows (Crowe’s Crew), and Witch Way to Oz (RMCH Mammogram Department).

Shelton, a retired art teacher, replaces cancer survivor Joyce Graves, who organized Gallup’s first Relay in 2000 and who headed the event through 2007. Graves now volunteers for the ACS, traveling the country and training others in ACS programs.

“She is doing an awesome job,” Graves said of her successor. Shelton has brought new ideas and energy to Gallup Relay, Graves said, and is responsible for organizing the highly successful auction of birdhouses that were decorated by local artisans. The birdhouse project raised $5,950 for Shelton’s Relay Team, the Ups and Downs.
Shelton said she had initially hoped to raise $3,000 or $4,000 with the birdhouse project, but its unexpected success is evidence of the generosity of the people of Gallup.

Shelton is hoping this year’s 26 teams Relay teams can raise $100,000 for the ACS; however, she admitted that is an ambitious goal since last year’s Relay raised just over $73,000. Thus far, she said, 87 businesses have helped to sponsor this year’s event, with 15 of them donating $750 or more. It’s not too late for interested business owners to help sponsor the Relay, she added.

Although not a cancer survivor, Shelton said she became involved in Relay For Life because of the number of family members and friends who have had the disease. She lost both her mother and her father to cancer, she said, and the loss of her mother was particularly difficult because the cancer was so widespread that doctors were not able to determine where it had originated.

There will be some changes to this year’s Relay. The dinner for cancer survivors has been replaced by an ice cream and cake reception, Shelton explained, because the event grew too large for volunteers to be able to accommodate that size of a crowd. Gallup’s Relay For Life is planning to host a dinner for survivors in August.

Food, however, will be available for purchase on Friday evening as some Relay teams will have food booths, along with game booths and contests. “Bring pocketfuls of money,” Shelton said of those last minute fund-raising efforts.

A new Relay feature will be the “Celebrate, Remember and Fight Back Rally” at 8:30 p.m. Shelton said about 500 flags — representing the 500 new cases of cancer that are expected to be diagnosed in McKinley County next year — will be displayed, and Relay participants will be encouraged to take practical action steps against the disease. That rally will be followed by Relay’s dramatic luminaria ceremony at 9:30 p.m. Luminaria bags, available for a donation of $5 or more, can be decorated with messages and photos to honor cancer survivors or remember cancer victims.

Popular fun events like the Mr. Relay Contest and the purse auction will return this year, along with the event’s nightly hourly games and contests.

“We try to keep it interesting and fun,” Shelton said, “so it’s not painful staying up all night long.”

Information: Linda Shelton at (505) 722-2175; Joyce Graves at (505) 863-3075.