KINGMAN – The Mohave County Relay For Life team is looking for a few good walkers.
Mohave County staff volunteers are putting together a team to compete in the annual American Cancer Society Relay For Life event, which will be held in Kingman beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday evening, May 31, through Sunday morning, June 1, around 9 a.m. at White Cliffs Middle School.
According to the American Cancer Society website, “Relay For Life is a fun-filled overnight event designed to celebrate survivorship and raise money for research and programs of your American Cancer Society. During the event, teams of people gather at schools, fairgrounds, or parks and take turns walking or running laps. Each team tries to keep at least one team member on the track at all times.”
Katherine “Kat” Fish, office specialist with county Water Operations, is the Mohave County team captain for the Kingman event for her third year, and her second year on the Relay Committee. Elizabeth “Liz” Durst, office assistant with county Emergency Management, is co-captain for her second year. And Margaret McBee, county PC/network support technician, is Relay Committee survivor chair for her second year.
I am a cancer survivor,” McBee said. “We would like to have anyone who is a cancer survivor to join us. We had 94 last year and we would like more this year. We honor survivors at the Relay For Life prior to the race. We will have a luminary celebration – the lighting of candles, luminaries that will line the Relay track. It is a beautiful experience.”
“The purpose of the Relay is to honor survivors and raise money for the Cancer Society,” Fish said. “It is the American Cancer Society’s signature annual fund-raising event. It started about 20 years ago with one guy in Washington. There are now close to 4,400 Relay events around the world.”
“Our team is the Mohave County Cruisers,” Durst said. “And we want to get as many county employees as possible to join the Race for a Cure.”
A portion of the money raised will benefit people in the Kingman area who are going through cancer treatment, McBee said. Festivities will begin at 6 p.m. May 31 and will end around 9 a.m. the next morning.
“When we set up a team, it costs $100, which covers the first 10 people,” Fish said. “After that, it is only $10 per team member. Cancer survivors do not have to pay the $10. About half of our team last year was made up of survivors. The Kingman event had more than 20 teams last year, including a group of ladies from Curves, several local Realtors, a team from Frontier Communications, our team, and many more. We want a large Mohave County team and we would love to see more than one county team so we could compete against each other.”
“In fact, we are seeking competition from the City of Kingman, the Kingman Police Department, the fire department, the high school, the newspaper or any agency or organization that thinks they can out-fund-raise us,” Durst said. “We challenge all of them to try and out-do us.”
“Last year we raised $63,000 at the Kingman event,” Fish said. “Our goal for this year is $80,000. I’m sure a City of Kingman team won’t have a chance to out-fund-raise the Mohave County team at this year’s Relay.”
All team members will get a Relay For Life T-shirt, Durst said. “There will be bounce houses for kids, face-painting and other activities going on at the event.”
“Since the event starts in the evening, people will be making hot dogs,” Fish said. “The Mohave County team will hold a bake sale. There will be several fun fund-raising efforts going on. We will start with the cancer survivors walking one lap around the track and then they will receive a meal. People will design luminaries that we will light. We hope people will sign up with us early, but those who do not can still show up at the event and sign up a team at that time.
“Another event we will be holding in the Kingman area will be the Power of Purple barbecue,” she said. “It will be held March 15, Power of Purple Day, at Firefighters Park, just behind the junior high school located on Detroit Avenue.”
More information on the Relay For Life event in Kingman can be obtained at http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=5802&pg=entry
or by calling Fish at (928) 530-2711 or contact her by email at kat.fish@co.mohave.az.us. Durst can be contacted at (928) 757-0910. McBee can be contacted at (928) 897-7806.
The Bullhead City area Relay For Life will be held May 2-3 at Mohave High School. More information can be found at www.bullheadrelay.org. Lake Havasu City area will hold an event at Lake Havasu High School starting the evening of April 18. More information can be found for that event at: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=5818&pg=entry
Photo Information:
Relay 1 - Mohave
County staff volunteers Liz Durst (left) and Kat Fish are looking for
Relay For Life teammates. Team Captain Fish and Co-Captain Durst have
challenged the City of Kingman and other agencies to try to raise more
funds than the county team during the American Cancer Society event
which will be held in Kingman starting at 6 p.m., May 31, through
approximately 9 a.m. June 1.
Relay Margaret McBee - Mohave
County Relay For Life Committee Survivor Chair Margaret McBee is asking
all cancer survivors to attend, participate and be honored at the
American Cancer Society Relay for Life event at White Cliffs Middle
School beginning at 6 p.m. May 31.
