Relay for Life raises over $62K

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

Maurkys Billie, 11, performs a traditional dance Friday during the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life at the Gallup Sports Complex in Gallup. [Photo by Jeremy Schneider/Independent]

GALLUP — The 2005 Gallup McKinley Relay For Life raised more than $62,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Joyce Graves, the chairwoman for the local Relay For Life, said the organization will be able to provide the final fund raising tally, along with figures for the top teams, by July 14 when Relay holds a follow-up meeting.

Although Relay organizers in the past have been able to offer fairly precise financial figures at the Relay's closing ceremony, early morning rains on Saturday soaked the Relay site at the Gallup Sports Complex, and the closing ceremony had to be abbreviated to a brief farewell speech given under a tent.

Graves admitted she was disappointed this year's amount would not surpass last year's amount of $68,000; however, she was pleased, with the many donations that were made in just the last week of the 2005 campaign. "We almost doubled in a week," she said of the fund raising efforts.

Since the first Relay For Life was held in 2000, the volunteer organization has raised successively more money each year.

Relay For Life also received a number of large donations during Friday evening's event. The Relay team from Wal-Mart presented a check for $4,500, the Over the Hill Gang Auto Club presented Relay with $1,200, and the Sundance Iron Riders motorcycle club presented their check for $500.

A couple of events at this weekend's Relay also raised some additional funds. The Mr. Relay Contest raised nearly $500 and was a crowd favorite. It featured a number of good humored male contestants who willingly paraded around in some unusual outfits to earn votes in the form of dollars and spare change.

An Friday night auction conducted by Joe Hibbard also raised nearly $700.

In spite of Saturday's rain and the less-than-hoped-for grand total, Graves expressed satisfaction with this year's event. "It was another great event," she said. "All the business sponsors were wonderful."

In addition to Relay For Life's fund raising mission, the event brings local cancer survivors together to offer recognition, support, and encouragement. Many survivors speak each year about the positive and healing effect the Relay has on participants.

Valerie New, a community relationship manager for the American Cancer Society, said she first joined Relay For Life as a volunteer because many family members had cancer.

From that experience, she said she understood the feeling of helplessness that many people feel when loved ones are diagnosed with cancer. Now an ACS employee, New said she wanted to work with the Relay program because it allows her to join the fight against cancer.

"This helps empower people to feel like they're making a difference," she said.

According to information provided by the American Cancer Society, the organization is the largest source of nonprofit, nongovernmental cancer research funding in the United States. The ACS says it invests about $130 million each year in research, and it has funded 32 Nobel Prize- winning researchers thus far.

The ACS provides comprehensive cancer information through its toll-free number and its website: 1-800-ACS-2345 or www.cancer.org.