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Relay for Life Fund Raises for American Cancer Society
 | | Members of Heather Strickland's Bells and Thistles Relay for life team gather at First Presbyterian Church. Front row left to right:Dee Kraft, Helen Powers, Marion Lott, Ken Lott. Middle Row: Lydia Petersen, Liz Benediktson, Karen Butterfield, Heather Strickland, Ed Fabbie. Back Row: Rev. Ken Mast and Marcia Slater. |
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Don't be too surprised if on May 1 Putnam County towns sport a new hue. After all, May 1 is the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life "Paint the Town Purple" day. Individuals and businesses around the county who support the annual fundraising event will be showing their colors by wearing something purple or by displaying purple balloons or ribbons. The 2008 24-hour long Relay For Life will take place at Mahopac High School on Baldwin Place Road on June 7-8.
Relay For Life team captains met recently at the Mahopac Library to gather information and flyers to help spread the word of the upcoming event. Heather Strickland is the captain of the Bells and Thistles team. Why 'Bells" and why "Thistles'? Well, bells because they play a big part in her life. She plays the bells with the choir at her church, the First Presbyterian Church in Mahopac Falls. Many of her choir mates are also her teammates.
Thistles? Well, Heather Strickland is Scottish!
She also has cancer.
Strickland said she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma about three and a half years ago. According to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society more than 70, 000 people in the United States will be diagnosed this year with lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that starts in the body's lymphatic system.
Amanda Gordon co-chairs this year's event with Lorraine Calabrese who is a cancer survivor. Gordon said most Relay for Life teams are formed because cancer has impacted on so many lives. She pointed out that practically everyone in the room - and the Community Room was crowded - had been touched by cancer. Some had it, others either knew someone who had cancer or had lost a loved one to it.
Dee Kraft has known Strickland for more than 10 years. They met at church. Kraft said it wasn't until her friend became ill that she considered being part of the Relay.
"I never would have thought to even come to Relay for Life if it hadn't been for Heather," Kraft said. "I had sent in my donations and did all that for the Cancer Society but the team is something Heather organized. She has given us the little push that we needed."
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