Community Corner
Pleasanton's "Relay for Life" raises $89,118 for the American Cancer Society's fight against Cancer.
The “Relay for Life” event held in Pleasanton last weekend raised over $89,000 in the fight for cancer. Twenty-Six teams joined in the 24 hour walk to raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s fight against cancer. Joint Chairs Lisa Brown and Kimberly Baird led the Survivor’s Ceremony, introducing Mayor Jerry Thorne who opened the activities with a welcoming talk and a beautiful flag ceremony featuring the Livermore Pleasanton Fire Department.
At 9am the event started with the Survivor’s Lap, all survivors jointed in with the flags bearing the words “Remember”, “Fight Back” and “Celebrate”. The second lap was the “Caregivers Lap”. Teams sponsored booths selling food, trinkets and raffle tickets to raise money for the event. The children’s area featured a huge blowup slide and “bubbles”, which the children (and adults) loved, sponsored by the Pleasanton North Rotary. Wonderful bands and singers entertained the crowd for the entire day.
All day long volunteers were decorating over 700 Luminaria Bags, ordered by friends and family for those who have had cancer, some” in honor of” and others “in memory of”. Nearly thirty volunteers placed the bags all the way around the Pleasanton Middle School track and lighted them in preparation for the Luminaria Ceremony at 9pm, after which the participants once again circled the track for the Luminaria Lap. The lighted bags gave a beautiful sight, although somber moments as each bag represented someone who had fought the fight against cancer.
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Purple is the theme color for Relays for Life, held in cities around the world, making it the largest fundraiser in the world in the fight against cancer. Downtown Pleasanton is currently decorated with many purple ribbons, signifying the Relay for Life fight against cancer. This year’s theme was Woodstock.
Many thanks to over 100 volunteers who helped make the day successful, groups represented by sending many volunteers were the National Charity League (NCL), Boys Team Charity (BTC), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and the Amador Valley High School Key Club.
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Donations can be made at www.relayforlife.org/pleasantonca, join us in the fight against cancer.