The annual Highland County Relay for Life is just two weekends away and organizers have planned a couple new events to help the relay reach its goal of raising $85,000.
The event be held June 23-24 at the Highland County Fairgrounds in Hillsboro. It kicks off with opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. Friday and continues through Saturday afternoon.
“We invite the community to join us in lots of family fun,” said Cindy Wilson, who is serving as the event lead with Cheryl McGee. “There will be food and fun to bring the community together to remember and honor our loved ones that have fought the battle against cancer. Together we will end cancer.”
Sixteen teams and a total of 196 participants have signed up for this year’s relay.
As of Tuesday they had raised $23,618, which is down from previous years heading into the relay, the major fundraiser of the year.
“But we have faith in our teams, participants and the community that we will reach our goal,” Wilson said.
The new things this year are a quarter raffle that beings at 8 p.m. Friday in the Multipurpose Building. It replaces a live auction, but there will be a silent auction and items will be displayed at each teams’ site.
There will be a 5K run/walk on Saturday morning at the fairgrounds. Preregistered participants only will receive a T-shirt. Mail registration with a $25 donation to: Relay 5K, P.O. Box 345 Lynchburg, Ohio 45142. Checks can be made payable to Relay for Life. For more information contact Janie Angles at 937-393-2357 or email [email protected].
Day of the race registration begins at 7 a.m. and the race starts at 8 a.m. All proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.
Relay teams will have breakfast available for participants, family and friends for a donation on Saturday morning.
There will be a car show at the fairgrounds Friday evening. Registration begins at 5 p.m. and the fee is a donation.
As in the past years, the opening ceremonies will be followed immediately with a survivors dinner. All cancer survivors and caregivers are invited.
While this year’s relay is a bit behind what has raised to the point in past years, it has rallied before when it had similar goals. But it also had more teams and participants those years. In 2015, it raised $100,043, the first time in more than 10 years that the event raised more than $100,000. But there were 25 teams and 322 individuals that participated. A year ago, 19 teams raised approximately $90,000.
The public is invited to take part throughout the entire event. Teams will be selling all kinds of food and offering a variety of games to raise finds for the fight against cancer.
For more information on the car show, quarter raffle or 5K, contact Angles 937-393-2357 or [email protected].
Any other questions can be directed to Wilson at 927-763-0637, McGee at 937-205-9626 or Melinda Daniels at 865-323-0588.
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or on Twitter @13gillilandj.
