Megan Hamand, promotions chair for the Starke County Relay for Life, announced that this year’s event will be Friday and Saturday, June 7 and 8, at the Starke County Fairgrounds in Hamlet. The soft-opening is at 3 p.m. CT and the opening ceremonies are set for 6 p.m. CT.
She said this year’s theme is, “Colors of Cancer.”
The IU Health Starke Hospital Relay for Life Team was honored during the kick off event on Thursday, Jan. 10. Emily Waters, director of Patient Access at IU Health Starke Hospital, was presented with the Silver Team award by Relay co-chair Samantha Sims in recognition of their efforts in the 2012 event. Continue reading
The American Cancer Society Relay for Life of Starke County kicked off their event on Thursday as volunteers and participants gathered at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Knox to launch their fundraising efforts for the year.
Although there’s more than six months left to go before the Relay event, it’s still the perfect time to get involved, and more than 80 people did as the event boasted a terrific turnout. Attendees received information about the different ways to get involved in Relay and witnessed a moving Luminaria Ceremony honoring cancer survivors and remember those lost to the disease.
In just two weeks, Relay for Life will host their Kick Off Event to jump start the Relay season. Megan Hamand of Key Bank said the event aims not only to kick off the start of the season, but also to give information to anyone interested.
Hamand explained the kickoff event features a number of important ceremonies like Luminaria, and this year they will focus on honoring cancer survivors and caregivers.
The Starke County Relay for Life held over the weekend was a success! Relay for Life Coordinator Megan Hamand gave the results figure at the end of the event Saturday morning.
“We raised $58,445 this year, which is amazing. I couldn’t believe it when we hit $52,000 last year, but our 44 teams were determined to beat last year’s total and we did,” Hamand said.
The “Hawg Wild DJs” team was unofficially named the top fundraiser, and team member Ericka Taylor Joseph explained some of her team’s fund raising methods.
“We usually have several fund raisers. We had a Purses for a Purpose fundraiser and a pork fundraiser. Our team is large, and everyone pitches in and raises its $100 personal goal,” Joseph explained.
Joseph explained that there is one thing in particular that all the team members have in common.
“Actually, everyone on the team has lost someone to cancer. I lost my father Tommy D. Taylor to cancer ten years ago,” Joseph observed.
Hamand thanked everyone who made the event a huge success, and she says planning is already underway for the 2013 relay.
The annual Starke County Relay for Life event begins today with opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. at the Starke County Fairgrounds in Hamlet. Event Chairperson Megan Hamand says there are a number of activities planned for the event.
“We’ve got games for kids, food, a car show, bands will be performing, including Narrow Gate and Konundrum, an American Red Cross blood drive, a food drive for Community Services of Starke County, and then we’ve got our regular relay events that you’ve learned to expect from us every year,” said Hamand.
Hamand says that two activities in particular are popular at the event.
“The Survivor Lap where we really honor and celebrate our survivors, and our solemn Luminaria ceremony which takes time to remember and honor those who that have fought cancer and those who have unfortunately lost their lives to it,” said Hamand.
Things may soon be looking a bit purple in Knox, thanks to the Paint the Town Purple effort for Relay for Life.
Megan Hamand of Key Bank says that supporters will be hanging posters, putting up yard signs, tying purple ribbons around various items in the city, and they will encourage local businesses to show their support for Relay with a window decorating contest. Hamand says she will begin passing out flyers to storefront businesses next week informing them of a competition.
The goal of the competition is for local businesses to decorate their storefronts in purple and encourage visitors to donate money for Relay. Community members can “vote” for the best-decorated business by making a donation to Relay For Life in the business’s donation canister, and whichever business raises the most funds will receive six months of free advertising through Main Street Computers in Knox.
Hamand says she feels local businesses will participate in the event because the community has always shown such a high level of support for the Relay For Life organization.
“I just think that Relay for Life is such a community-wide event. I think everybody really embraces it, so it’s kind of fun to drive through the week before Relay and see the entire town purple and just get a feel. Especially if you’re battling cancer, or if you’re a cancer survivor, just to see that the whole community is behind you, that’s kind of a cool thing,” said Hamand.
The event will take place from May 28 to June 1, with the Relay to take place on June 8.
The Starke County Relay for Life event was held over the weekend. The goal this year was $38,000 and at the closing ceremonies Relay Chairman, Megan Hamand, reported that $51,162 had been raised.
Team Imagine raised $8,000 and they were announced as the winners of the team collection event. The captain of Team Imagine is Michelle Downs, who is a cancer survivor. There were 38 teams in this year’s event, which was held at the 4-H Fairgrounds in Hamlet. Continue reading
The Starke County Relay for Life event is this Friday and Saturday and event chairperson, Megan Hamand, says the committee is really trying to get the survivors engaged in the event.
“What they’ve gone through, it’s an amazing victory and they really deserve to be celebrated,” said Hamand. “We have a new survivor chair, Michelle Downs, who is really passionate about survivor engagement. We’ve got a special scavenger hunt for them, we have a special lap just dedicated to survivors and caregivers, we have prizes, we have a reception with a birthday cake because a world with less cancer is a world with more birthdays.”
Starke County Relay for Life Event Chair, Megan Hamand, says the Starke County Relay for Life is right around the corner.
“The event this year is June 10th and 11th at the Starke County Fairgrounds,” explained Hamand. “The soft opening is at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, June 10th. The official opening and the opening ceremony is going to be at 6:00 p.m. We’ve got events going all night: ceremonies, live entertainment, games, music, and the live auction again which is always a big event.”
The Starke County Relay for Life Kick-off event will be held Wednesday, January 19th at 6:00 p.m CT at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Knox. Information for this year’s Relay will be available as well as refreshments.
