Relay For Life

A few weekends ago, I told you about the Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich Sale Maddie and her friend Kelsey held to raise money for her Relay for Life team.  They baked over 200 cookies themselves on a Saturday afternoon, and then they sold them as ice cream sandwiches to friends and neighbors the following day.

They made over $150 all of which was donated to their school team, Paws for a Cause, which was further donated to Relay for Life.  Last weekend was Relay for Life which is a 24 hour walk with the goal of raising money for cancer research.  The following 7 photos were borrowed from Ann Holzman, the advisor to the club:

Someone from each and every team must be walking on the track at all times the entire 24 hours.  With 64 members, I don’t think our team had any trouble keeping the track covered!

There were also fun activities all night and day like cake walks and karaoke:

and Zumba:

In the evening, luminarias are lit memorializing friends and loved ones who have succumbed to cancer.  The track is lined with them, and the word “Cure” is spelled out on the bleachers.  There is also a Survivor Lap and a ceremony which brought on tears from many participants.

So many bags.  Too many lives lost to cancer.

Some members of the team arrived after the eighth grade dance, and did a few laps in their dresses!

Maddie told me it got really cold over night, with temps down in the forties.  She was also just starting a head cold, and between the stuffed-up head, the bumpy ground, and the cold temps, she had a hard time sleeping.  She was up at 5 a.m. for some early morning laps.

Ben and I arrived about 3 hours before the end of the Relay, intending to walk the final hours with Maddie, but when we arrived, this is what we found (now switching back to my pictures):

She was tired.  And hot.  Her whole body was hot.  I figured she had just come in from a turn on the track, but she told me she had been resting for about an hour.  I moved her outside into the shade and tried cooling her off with some cold washcloths.  Eventually, another mother talked her into going home (she really didn’t want to!) and we blasted the AC in the car the whole way.  I took her temperature when we arrived home and it was 100.7…I imagine it was a bit higher than that back at the Relay!

She held Herbie for about five minutes and then fell asleep for the next 4 hours, rising only to eat a late supper and head to bed again, where she slept for 13 more hours!

The Lebanon County Relay for Life raised about $363,00 dollars with 95 teams in attendance, and the Paws for a Cause team raised $13,100, placing them 5th overall for funds raised, and first place among Youth groups!  Maddie walked 40 laps which equals ten miles.  Whew!

I’m so proud of Maddie and her team, and many thanks to Mrs. Holzman and Miss Liddic (rumor has it that Miss Liddic walked/ran a marathon at the event and her feet ended up strained and swollen). 

Maddie definitely plans to join the club next year, and Ben has been inspired and plans to join when he is in middle school.  Wouldn’t it be incredible if cancer were eradicated before Jack made it to middle school and never had a chance to join this club?