Mississippi Mills' inaugural Relay for Life was a overwhelming success last Friday evening June 8 to Saturday morning. 10 months of planning culminated in an evening chock full of events including a Survivors Reception, and Lap, The Fight Back Zone, where many activities happened such as cooking demonstrations, Zumba classes, info sessions and contests and a kids zone, with badminton, sumo wrestling and other games.
The idea behind the relay is to walk in relay teams for a whole night in honour of cancer victims and survivors, to raise funds.
The evening began with a cancer Survivors Reception at 5:30 and a survivors' relay lap. Amid the many activities, relay teams walked a track through the night. At 10 p.m. luminaries, candle lit bags sold to commemorate the courage of individual cancer victims and survivors, were lit to line the relay track through the night. An unexpected hail storm caused a temporary evacuation and damage to some luminaries, but these were soon repaired and the inspiring evening resumed.
The goal in this inaugural Relay for Life was to field 15 relay teams and sell 400 luminaries, with the hope of raising $38,000. On June 8 400 participants showed up, 59 survivors participated in the Survivors Lap, 31 teams relayed all night, and over 1312 luminaries were sold raising $107,000.The outpouring of support from the community, the Civitans, Patrices, and many others was astounding.
