Relay for Life Saturday, June 15

The Douglas County Relay for Life will be sending a message of Peace, Love, and Hope to those affected by cancer during the 2019 Relay from 4-10 p.m. Saturday, June 15 at the south circle drive of Tuscola Community High School.

And the community is invited to stop by, visit the participants, and take part in the fundraising and celebration.

“Relay is a team fundraising event where team members take turns walking around a track or designated path,” according to Douglas County Relay director Carly McCrory. “Each event is 6-24 hours in length and each team is asked to have a member on the track at all times to signify that cancer never sleeps. Cancer patients don’t stop because they’re tired, and for one day, neither do we.”

This year’s Relay events had an unofficial kick off with the annual survivor recognition social that included an ice cream sundae bar and guest speaker Joe Peterson who is a co-founder of SimBioSys. Peterson spoke about the SimBioSys’s work to provide empowering precision cancer care through an approach that considers the likelihood of successful treatment using quantitative measures to identify characteristics of a specific tumor. The survivor social welcomed 75 Douglas County survivors and their guests

Since 2001, Relay For Life of Douglas County has raised $771,355 for the American Cancer Society.

And this year’s Relay will include 10 teams who continue fundraising for the same cause.

“Each team sets up a themed campsite at the event and continues their fundraising efforts by collecting donations for food, goods, games, and activities,” McCrory said. “This money will count towards their overall team fundraising goal.”

McCrory, a 10-year survivor, will be this year’s survivor speaker at 6 p.m. when she will speak about her experiences as a survivor and caregiver.

Luminaria will be sold for $10 each and the silent auction will close at 8:30 p.m.