Total funds tallied for Relay for Life event
By Matt Hopper
Where there’s a will there’s a way. Motivation can have an amazing effect over individuals. Sometimes it will drive them to succeed for themselves. Others are most driven by serving the needs of strangers. Motivation can see adversity overcome. It can see cancer beaten. But its greatest effect is seeing it bring different people together to work toward a common goal. Individuals aged from nine to 90 joined forces in the fight against cancer. Thirty-five teams made up the nearly 400 people who came out to walk for a cure June 5-6. Relay For Life, held this year in Washburn, was a huge success according to organizers. Between both online and offline funding, those involved raised approximately $78,000 for the event; blowing the calculated goal of $58,000 out of the water. "I never imagined it would be such a huge success," said planning committee chair Emily Retterath. Retterath was very grateful for all the support from Washburn as well as the surrounding areas. All age groups came together, but not enough praise could be given to the area youth. "We’ve seen the youth become much more involved over the years," said Retterath. "Cancer is touching more people, and it’s hitting all ages. The kids really stepped up and had a lot of good fundraising ideas." Nearly a year’s worth of planning went into the successful evening. Getting the proper training, organizing the benefit and rounding up community support meant putting in a lot of overtime toward doing the right thing.
