Relay for Life treating cancer survivors to dinner and music
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
MARBLE FALLS — Irene Mullins is looking for a few good people with whom to have dinner. Well, actually, she’s offering to serve them dinner if they show up at Lakeside Pavilion on April 7 for a good time and a great meal.
Yes, there is a catch. The diners must all be cancer survivors because it’s the annual Relay for Life Cancer Survivors’ Dinner.
“We do this to celebrate them and to show them how much we care about them,” Mullins said.
The meal is 6-8 p.m. at the pavilion, 307 Buena Vista Drive. While the dinner is still several weeks away, Mullins said she wants to get as many survivors as she can to sign up.
The event includes a meal, music and prizes.
It’s all a part of the buildup to the 2014 Burnet-Marble Falls Relay for Life on May 16 at Marble Falls Middle School Pony Stadium, 1511 Pony Circle Drive. Relay for Life is a community event for which people put together teams to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
But that’s only a part of the picture. Relay serves as a celebration — a celebration of all the people who have beaten cancer or are in the midst of their battle with it.
The project helps show cancer patients they are not alone and there is a community pulling for them.
Relay started many years ago when a Tacoma, Wash., surgeon wanted to do something to raise money for cancer research. So he decided to run for 24 hours straight and got his friends to put up money to run certain times with him.
Eventually, this morphed into Relay for Life, when, during the course of the night, at least one team member is out walking on a track. This symbolizes that a person fighting cancer doesn’t get time off from the disease.
But throughout the night, a celebratory atmosphere permeates the grounds. People are participating in games, and they’re singing and reveling in the moment.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a time for reflection to remember the cost cancer takes in lives. Just past dark, organizers light candles in the luminaries that ring the track. On each luminaria is the name of a person who has lost his or her battle with the disease or is batting it now.
While the luminaries are aglow and people walk the track in silence, readers call out the names of those on the bags.
None of it happens without the support of the community. Teams are still being formed and sponsors are always welcome.
People can register for the survivors’ dinner at several of the area oncology centers, including the Cancer Care Centers of South Texas, 1100 Mission Hill Drive in Marble Falls, and Texas Oncology, 703 U.S. 281, Suite 201 in Marble Falls. Or call Mullins at (830) 265-7724.
Go to www.relayforlife.org for more information on Relay for Life.
daniel@thepicayune.com