Help Beat Cancer

When the Ameri­can Cancer Society ap­proached Dayton resident Delphine Bailey about start­ing up a local Relay for Life event, Bailey was worried she wouldn't be able to rally enough people to make it work. "But I have been totally amazed at the people that have come forward to help with this wonderful event," she said Monday. This weekend, Saturday, Sept. 18, through Sunday, Sept. 19, supporters will rally again, for the third year, at the Dayton Sports Complex to raise cancer awareness and money for the American Can­cer

Society at the Relay for Life in the Blue Mountains.

Participants live in Day­ton, Waitsburg, Starbuck, Prescott and Pomeroy, Bailey said.

"And because we live in a farming community we hold our relay late in September so that harvest and the fairs are over," she said.

The event begins at 3 p.m. Saturday where participants will walk or run the track all day, through the night to represent how "cancer never sleeps," until 7:30 a.m. Sun­day. After opening festivities, participants will complete a Survivor Lap and two cancer survivors will share their story with the crowd. The Luminary Ceremony, where hundreds of luminarias or lights set inside bags are placed around the inside lane of the track as participants continue to walk through the night takes place at 8 p.m. on Saturday. "This is one of the most moving and emotional times during the Relay," said Bai­ley, who works at Columbia County Public Health with the tobacco prevention pro­gram.

"Each luminaria is pur­chased in honor of a friend, family member or co-worker who has either been diag­nosed

with cancer or has passed away from the dis­ease," Bailey said. "I be­lieve that everyone has been touched by cancer in one way or another."

Through Relay she has met many "amazing" people who have had cancer and beat it.

"I have also had many dear friends who lost the battle," she said. "Just this spring I had a friend who was just 53 years old die from colon cancer. Cancer does not dis­criminate." Every year, more than 34,000 men, women and children in Washington are diagnosed with cancer. To honor those afflicted, survivors and those who've been taken, the lights of the Sports Complex will be dimmed. Then each name represented on the luminarias will be read aloud as the Re­lay teams continue to walk around the track. This year 20 teams, with over 250 people, have regis­tered to participate.

"We have lots of fun activ­ities planned for the evening," Bailey said. Organizers have planned a Relay Royalty contest, where each team will choose a contestant to will represent their team. Other activities will include a frozen t-shirt lap, pajama lap, undy lap, bed head lap, crazy hat lap and many more. Participants will have a chance to enter a poker run during the night, and entertainment is planned for the stage. Local young ladies Abbey Chapman and Molly Weppler will sing the National An­them to open the event. Other fun will include karaoke, bowling in the sand, Bunko, Bingo, and Name that Tune.

There will be several fund­raising activities going on throughout the event includ­ing a barbecue, caramel apple sales and many more.

This year's theme is "Cel­ebrate More Birthdays," so teams will be emphasizing party fun in all the lap events and entertainment.

Relay for Life is a pro­gram of the American Cancer Society. Relay accounts for more than 40 percent of giv­ing from all sources to the society. The cancer society is the nation's largest non-govern­mental investor in cancer research, contributing more than $3.5 billion. As a result, more than 11 million people in American who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year, according to the orga­nization. For more information about Relay for Life in Day­tonor to purchase a lumi­naria,call Bailey at 509-520-1756 or Gerri Richter at 509-382-4124.