Archive: Around Town

The tenth Ithaca Relay For Life was back for its second year at Lansing High School last weekend.  The all-night event celebrates cancer survivors while raising money for further research.  "Every year there are more survivors walking around the track, not only here in Tompkins County, but across the country," says American Cancer Society Staff Partner Allison Knoth.  "That's really what the relay is all about.  The money is wonderful, but it's really about the people and the hope it brings."

This year the theme was 'Decade of Hope' to celebrate the tenth local event, and relay teams were encouraged to dress and decorate their tents in the style of the 40s, 50s, 60s, and so on.  The 60s was a popular one, with many walkers dressed in tie-dye and love beads, with cardboard VW microbusses strapped to their shoulders.  The teams set up their tents Friday afternoon, and the opening ceremony started at 5:45 with a flag raising.


"I love this.  This is one of my favorite events of the year to be a part of," said Dave Vieser, WHCU's morning show host.  "Last year was my first Relay For Life.  My aunt died of breast cancer in 1982, and ever since then I have been involved in American Cancer Society events.  So when this came up it was a given for me.  There was no question I wanted to be a part of it."


Vieser and other Cayuga Radio Group hosts MCed the entire event, making announcements and playing music from each decade, with News Director Geoff Dunn hosting the Luminaria ceremony.  The actual relay began at 6pm with survivors walking a lap around the track, followed by a caregiver's lap, and then a researcher's lap before the general relay began.  At 6:30 survivors were invited to a huge tent where they were served a special dinner.  "We can, today, celebrate so many more survivors being here with us because of the research the American Cancer Society does," Knoth says.  "So every year the survivor dinner gets bigger and bigger."


75 teams participated this year, 17 of them new.  Knoth says that while the number of teams is about the same as last year, there are more people on many of the teams with some getting as large as 50 people.  While Knoth is the official connection to the American Cancer Society, the Relay For Life is organized entirely by volunteers including an organizing committee of 22 members.  This year Joe Macrina chaired the event.  "He is our leader," Knoth explains.  "He pulled the committee together for the past eight months, he has been working with everybody.  he's just amazing.  We have a huge committee.  We have a survivor team, a logistics team, a transportation team, a mission team... this is not done by just a few people.  It is a very large undertaking."

Retired Lansing music teacher Cindy Howell, who continues to direct the high school musicals was setting up equipment for her daughter-in-law Katie Howell, who conducted Voices, an adjunct group from Ithaca Community Chorus.  Cindy is a cancer survivor herself.  "In November of 2000 I was diagnosed with breast cancer," she says.  "I was a stage two point two.  I went through radiation and chemotherapy.  Thank God for my kids in this school district!  I kept singing and I kept going, and I'm fine."


Since then she has participated in Relay For Life every year.  "My husband and I walked the care giver's walk afterward," she says.  "It's a very emotional and wonderful thing that they do this."  Howell says that a lot of people she interacts with didn't know what she was going through at the time.  "The kids knew," she says.  "Some knew.  I just didn't talk about it all the time.  You just have to keep going."

Lansing Youth Services Program Manager Isabel Bazaldua brought a half dozen Lansing Middle Schoolers to join the 'Sally's Strutters' team.  "We were adopted by them," she says.  "We brought in six young people, and they brought in T-shirts from last year for all of our kids.  I've also been seeing lots of middle schoolers on other teams.  That's really encouraging."


Marge Mallinson had planned a trip to visit her grandchildren, and when she learned the Relay was at the same time she quickly got into the spirit of the occasion, dressing as a hippie grandma.  "We're visiting our son and family and it happened to be the week of the relay, so we joined in for some fun," she says.  "My mother is a survivor, and we have several good friends who are dealing with cancer.  It's a very good cause."

This year the American Cancer Society conducted research at the event.  "It's called the Cancer Prevention Study 3," Knoth explains.  "We are asking people to come between 5 and 9pm to enroll in that study, fill in a little questionaire, measure your waist, take a little blood.  The commitment is to fill out a questionnaire every two years for 20 years and tell us how you live your life.  The first cancer prevention study found the relationship between lung cancer and smoking.  The second study noted the relationship between obesity and cancer.  We're really excited.  The American cancer Society is trying to enroll 500,000 people over the next five years."


Meanwhile there were plenty of fun events scheduled, including a kids activity tent, balloon rides, the Luminaria ceremony, a bubble gum bubble blowing contest, hula hoop relay contest, watermelon eating contest, and at 11:00pm 'Ithaca Idol,' with Vieser acting as one of the judges.  Special laps included a cell phone lap, best dressed 'Elvis look-alike' lap, a sponsor's lap, and best dressed disco costume lap, among many others.

Lansing's athletic director Ed Redmond was thrilled to host the event for the second year in a row.  "It's a great cause," he says.  "We are here to support the Cancer Society, and we are looking forward to hosting it again in July.  It's a credit to all the volunteers that worked with the Cancer Society.  Allison Knoth, who heads up the program, is a Lansing resident, so she is very excited to have it back in Lansing, and so are we."


The energy level was high as people of all ages walked around the track.  Those who couldn't walk were wheeled in wheel chairs.  There were contests, dancing and plenty of activities in the tents and around the track.  The whole community pitched in not only for a feel-good event, but for one that raises awareness and funding to eventually win the battle against cancer.

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