This past weekend’s ninth annual fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society’s research programs, held over a 24-hour period at Pinecrest High School, is expected to exceed last year’s proceeds of $157,000, he said.
“This year’s teams started early and got really involved with some good ideas,” Roper said in a Monday telephone interview.
In about 10 days, after expenses are all deducted and the cash and checks that were pledged all come in, organizers will know exactly how much money was raised by the 53 teams. The money goes toward helping find a cure for cancer.
“Last year, we were recovering from the 9-11 terrorist attack, and we were down for the second year in a row,” he said.
This year, Roper feels, “we are coming back.”
For the first time, the Relay ran from 10 a.m. to 10 a.m., instead of noon to noon. This was to allow cancer survivors to walk during the cooler morning hours, and also to end the Relay on Sunday in time for people to go home in time to get ready for church, if they wanted, he said.
Roper, the logistics chairman for this year’s Relay and a cancer survivor, has served three years as chairman. The relay began in 1995, and the current fund-raiser is handled by two co-chairwomen, Amy Millard and Ruth Todd.
Two teams have raised or exceeded $10,000 each — Emmanuel Baptist Church of Carthage and the “All American Dream Team,” Todd’s own team — according to Roper. Another team that raised a lot of money was Dr. Robert Martin’s team sponsored by HealthSource, a partnership organization for surgery at Martin’s Carolina Eye Associates in Pinehurst.
The local Relay theme this year was a worldwide search for a cure for cancer.
Since Martin had visited China along with some staff on teaching trips over the years, the HealthSource employees provided Chinese doughnuts Sunday morning for the tired but satisfied relay walkers. Many of the participants spent all night camping around the track.
A new event this year was Re/Max hot air balloon rides sponsored by Bill and Martha Gentry on behalf of the Pinehurst-Southern Pines Area Association of Realtors, which helped raise money for cancer research. Food vendors were busy all night. Since the food was donated, all of the proceeds also went to cancer research.
Among the various adult teams were 10-12 composed of student from West Pine, New Century, and Southern middle schools, and Pinecrest and Union Pines high schools. This year, for the first time, the northern Moore area had its own Relay fund-raiser, which took place in May 2003 and raised $25,000, Roper said.
The Relay went smoothly this year, and all the student teams were hard working and well behaved, he said.
Nearly 200 cancer survivors marched in the first two walks around the Pinecrest track that kicked off the event, following speakers during the opening ceremony at 9 a.m.
At all times during the overnight walk, members representing each relay team were supposed to be on the track walking.
The most well-attended event was the luminaria ceremony at 9 p.m. Saturday, with a crowd estimated at 4,000-5,000 people filling the home team stands, Roper said. The ceremony has become so popular that chairwoman Diane Van Winkle was selling luminarias just one hour before the ceremony was set to begin Saturday night.
The luminarias are sold for $10 each or three for $25, and every year there are more than 1,000 sold in memory of people who have died and also those who still live with cancer.
“When you walk around the track and find a luminaria lit with the name of someone who is lost, or then you see another luminary in the name of someone still surviving cancer, it can be an emotion-filled experience,” Roper said.
The last two years, the luminaria ceremony has drawn bigger crowds than ever before, Roper said.
For 2004, Roper said the Relay for Life officials are actively considering moving the event to spring, instead of fall. Most other Relays in the United States and in North Carolina are springtime events, he said.
“In the spring, there are less scheduling problems to reserve the track and stands for the weekend because football season is over,” he said. “Also, the schools have been in session for many months, and it is easier to get student teams organized and ready instead of in fall, when school is just starting.”
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