Relay nets over $6,000

The Ritzville Relay For Life kicked off at the Ritzville Rodeo Grounds on Friday night with an estimated 80 participants joining together in an evening of fundraising in an effort to raise money for cancer research. The American Cancer Society sponsors the annual event and the preliminary numbers show Relay raised $6,108 to be donated to the organization.

All of the funds are used for the continuing of cancer research and providing cancer patients with resources to help defeat the life-altering disease.

The two top fundraising teams for this year’s event were the Inky Dinks with a preliminary amount of $1,991.60, followed by the Connell Oil team with a preliminary amount of $1,572.

The top two fundraising individuals are both members of the Connell Oil team, with Darlene Glenn raising $390 and Jim Whitman raising $250.

The evening’s activities began with a welcome provided by Sue Sackmann and the national anthem being sung by her daughter, Janis Rountree, while the American Legion and VFW members Mark Shepherd, John Timm and Robert Reynolds served in the color guard.

After the presentation of the colors, the color guard led the group of survivors and caregivers in the first lap around the outside of the rodeo grounds. After the completion of the survivors lap, all of the teams joined together and completed the first lap before officially kicking off the evening’s events.

All of the survivors and caregivers enjoyed a meal prepared by Mike Telecky and staff members from the Life Care Center of Ritzville.

Throughout the evening, participants continued to walk laps around the path marked by luminaria bags. Each luminaria bag honored individuals who have had cancer, and the tribute was either to honor the life lost to the disease or celebrate those who had defeated the life changing disease.

All participants stopped walking and gathered together just after 10 p.m. for the luminaria ceremony, where a list of almost 150 names of locals who have battled cancer were shown in a presentation. Immediately following the ceremony, the participants walked a lap in silence to honor the memory of each of the individuals listed in the presentation.

As midnight rolled around, the night’s activities began with a friendly game of bingo. Dale Anderson provided the music and served as announcer for the evening, all while keeping the remaining participants upbeat and entertained into the early hours of the morning.

Throughout the morning hours, at least one person remained walking the path at all times. Another game of bingo and poker laps at 3 a.m. helped keep the walkers energized despite the low temperatures.

The day’s events concluded with a biscuits and gravy, sausage, coffee and juice breakfast prepared by the Washtucna Lions Club.

The Relay committee will meet later this month for a wrap-up meeting and to turn in the final donations to ACS.

Any individual wishing to make a financial contribution to Relay is asked to contact event chairman Katelin Davidson at 659-1020 or by email at [email protected].

For more information about the Ritzville Relay For Life, visit http://relayforlife.org.ritzvillewa.