American Cancer Society – Ralay For Life Community Fundraiser
FORT WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA -
At the American Cancer Society Community Fundraiser, raffle tickets and baked goods were sold by members of the team, “Don't Mess With Mom-Mom,” at the American Cancer Society 12th Annual North Penn Area Relay for Life to raise money for cancer research.
The name of the team was selected by one of the parent's daughters, Jessica Hendricks. Jessica thought it would be a great way to honor her grandmother who had been diagnosed with cancer. The “Don't Mess With Mom-Mom,” team raised more than $3,000 since the beginning of this year.
For the past twelve years, the North Penn area have held the Relay for Life race to not only raise awareness about cancer research, but to also raise money for the American Cancer Society, which is sent by each team that participates in the race.
The event was held at the North Penn High School track, where it normally draws more than 450 participants, which oftentimes includes several cancer survivors. This year, there were 100 cancer patient survivors who participated in the race.
The cancer survivors all wore special T-shirts and were at the front of the race to begin the relay by participating in the Survivor Lap, which began at 10:00 am on Saturday.
This was the first year that the Relay for Life had returned to the North Penn High School. Prior to that it had been held at the Penn-dale Middle School. Many participants in the race felt that it was great to be back at the high school having the annual event, where it began twelve years earlier.
The Relay for Life is a 24-hour relay race where each team must have a representative from their team on the track at all times during the race. The idea of the race is that “Cancer does not sleep.”
Saturday morning, teams had tents pitched all the way around the track. The theme of this year's Relay for Life was International Countries so every team decorated their campsite to represent the country of their team’s choice. Some of the teams sold food and merchandise that represented their country to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
