Relay for Life is today, Saturday

Matthew Weaver/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Dressed in purple and pink, area cancer survivors take the Survivor's Walk during the opening ceremony for Relay for Life at the Moses Lake High School track last year.

by Lynne Lynch<br
| May 29, 2009 9:00 PM

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Relay for Life is set to begin at 6 p.m. tonight and end on noon Saturday at the Moses Lake High School track.

Money raised from the 18-hour long event goes toward cancer research and programs such as “Look Good, Feel Better” and Camp Goodtimes, a camp for child cancer patients in Idaho, said Terry Moore, team development chair.

The “Look Good” program helps cancer patients with skin and nail care and shows them wig options after hair loss.

Relay teams walk during laps on the track during the event and raise money. Some of the groups include businesses, families and friends.

On Wednesday, Moore said 93 teams with 1,200 participants signed up in advance. The goal was 75 teams.

Each team can have up to 15 members.

Already, $108,600 was raised, with a goal of $155,000.

And 141 survivors signed up to take part in the survivor lap.

People can also sign up at the event to participate. There’s no cover charge for nonparticipants.

Different entertainment is planned, such as theme laps and a singer named Tom Willner is performing “Every Candle Has a Name” during the luminaria ceremony.

“It’s going to be awesome,” she said.

A pie eating contest and a lip synch contest are planned and the Boys & Girls Club will provide cotton candy and Sno-Kones.

Pizza and espresso will be sold, with businesses donating a percentage of their sales to the event.

Many of the relay teams decorate their camp sites and hold team fund-raisers there too.

In the Great West Division, Moses Lake Relay for Life won the Pacesetter Award for two years for meeting goals such as team amounts, fund-raising and participating survivors.

Riley credited the Columbia Basin Herald for providing the publicity that allowed the Moses Lake event to receive the National Terry Zahn Media Award in 2008.

This is the 21st year of the event and the Moses Lake area raised over $1 million, she said.

At this year’s Relay, people can sign up from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday to participate in a cancer prevention study.

The Moses Lake event is one of three Relays in the state to have the study sign-up, as Grant County has a diverse population, she explained.

She called signing up the opportunity to participate in groundbreaking research during the 20-year study.

Participants must meet certain criteria to take part in the unpaid study.

For more information, call Riley at 509-989-2287, or visit www.relayforlife.org/moseslakewa.

Cancer study sign ups

Volunteers are part of nationwide study

MOSES LAKE — Men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 will have the chance to sign up Friday to take part in Cancer Prevention Study-3.

“The American Cancer Society will be enrolling people into CPS-3, a long-term study that will help researchers better identify the lifestyle, environmental, and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer,” a spokesperson stated. “CPS-3 is a grassroots effort where local communities from across the country can support cancer research not just through fund-raising efforts like Relay For Life, but also by participating actively in this historic research study.”

Ultimately, researches hope to eliminate cancer as a major health problem, according to the American Cancer Society.

The American Cancer Society’s Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research is hoping to gather 500,000 people during Relay for Life events across the country to participate in the in the cancer prevention study.

People will be able to sign up to take part in the study during the Moses Lake Relay for Life event tonight between 6:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

The study requires volunteers to have no previous history of cancer.

For more information about the study, stop by Relay for Life at the Moses Lake High School track, 803 Sharon Avenue East, this weekend, or call 888-604-5888. People can also go online to visit www.cancer.org/cp3 for more information.

— Staff report