On the weekend of July 9-10, participants from 22 teams converged on the Magnolia Community Playfields to take part in this year's Relay For Life of Seattle at Magnolia.
The Relay For Life events are organized by the American Cancer Society, the nation's largest non-profit provider of cancer research funding, to raise dollars for its research and programs. They have been taking place throughout the country for almost two decades.
The Relay For Life has gained international recognition and events are now hosted in more than 20 different countries. This year, there are no less than 30 relays taking place in King County alone.
"There are four Relay For Life events in the city limits of Seattle," said Christi Beckley of the American Cancer Society. "So even though people come to them from all over the city, each one of them is really a local event.
"We had a lot of local Magnolia teams this year," Beckley added, "more so than in the past, which was really great."
Twenty-two teams participated in the Magnolia Relay, which began at noon on Saturday, July 9, and came to a close at 10 a.m. the next day. The teams covered a wide range of ages, from Lawton Elementary School students to members of the Red Hat Society, and at least one member from every team was running or walking on the track for the duration of the event.
Around 300 people attended in total, including both participants and supporters.
"Most people have a reason to be there," Beckley explained. "One in three people are affected by cancer, so it touches a lot of us. Many of those at the Magnolia Relay were cancer survivors, or have a close friend or family member who's living with cancer."
The opening ceremony was an opportunity so recognize and pay respect to cancer survivors and their care-givers. The first ceremonial lap of the relay was reserved for those survivors in attendance.
A Luminaria ceremony was held at 10 p.m. on Saturday night. More than 500 candles were lit and placed in bags, each light either honoring someone living with cancer or memorializing someone whose life had been taken by the disease. The bags stayed lit until the closing ceremony on Sunday.
"This event had a real atmosphere of support and community to it," Beckley said. "The reason we work so hard all year to plan the relay is to support the entire community - those who have lost loved ones to cancer, to cancer survivors, to those who are newly diagnosed and going through treatment.
"And this was really apparent at the Magnolia Relay," she continued. "People were happy to be there, happy to support each other and really felt a sense of importance and a sense that they were making a difference."
The American Cancer Society is still accepting donations after the Relay for Life at Magnolia. Donations can be mailed to: American Cancer Society Office, Attn. Magnolia Relay; 728 124th St. S.W., Ste. 101; Everett, WA 98204.
To learn more about the American Cancer Society, visit www.cancer.org.
Sean Molnar is a freelance writer living in Seattle. You can reach him at mageditor@nwlink.com.[[In-content Ad]]
