The Power of Purple

The 2008 Bonneville County Relay for Life held July 11 & 12. Doesn't sound like much does it? But as the the 2007 and 2008 event chair let me tell you, Relay can be, is, should be a big deal! Going home with bleary eyes, tired aching feet, a hoarse voice and having been on the track from 8:00 am Friday until 12:00 noon on Saturday you wonder... Was it worth it? We didn't reach our goals but we did better than last year. We had about 15 more teams and should reach over $60,000! So that's not too bad!

As I walked the track and seen all of the luminaria bags it made it worth it. When I saw all of the purple t-shirts on our survivors it made it worth it. When I saw tears stream down faces as memories of loved ones surfaced it made it worth it. As I listened to stories of courage and hope it made it worth it. As I watched people walking the track for hours it made it worth it. As we chanted: Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back!

It made it worth it!

My team, The American Idle's (We won't sit idle, we will fight cancer.) wasn't as active this year as we were missing many of our members and the ones who were there were all helping with committee's. But, we did come in second on fundraising!Theresa put all of the names from all of the luminaria bags on a big screen and had them scrolling during the lights out luminaria ceremony. It created a powerful emotion when so many of my family names scrolled on it. My Mom (Marie C Park), Grandma Neisess, Aunt Bev, Uncle Joe, Cathy, Sandy. Yes, it's worth it...