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The crowd at the Windber Relay For Life listens intently to Gaynelle Schmieder as she tells her story about her fight against cancer. Schmieder was the guest speaker at the Windber Relay For Life held this weekend at Windber Recreation Park. (Photo by Sandy Wojcik / July 15, 2012) |
They pitched tents, walked for miles, sold everything from popcorn to glow lights, all to raise money in the fight against cancer.
Because of their efforts, this year's Windber Relay For Life team raised more than $59,500 towards their goal of $61,000 for the American Cancer Society this weekend, with money still coming in.
Linda Malisko, the chairwoman for the event said, "I just love the support of everyone who is here today. There was a little bit of rain but that did not put a damper on anyone and it was an awesome survivor's ceremony."
Malisko said the Relay For Life had more than 177 registered participants with 14 teams. There were 437 luminaria bags for the service, which included a tribute to Wendy Spencer, a long time supporter of the Relay, who lost her battle to cancer. The Rev. David McGee showed a slide show of names for which the luminaria signified.
The Relay For Life is a culmination of a number of events held prior to the actual weekend.
"We had a special event this year where restaurants in Windber raised money for the Relay," she explained. "Patti Rummel's Patti's Restaurant earned the top prize in our first Paint the Town Purple Event to select the Best Eatery's."
The theme for the teams at the Windber Recreation Park, was Carnival for a Cure, said Malisko. There were a number of carnival type games; face painting and even James Bradley dressed as a "beaded lady" to collect money from the supporters at the Park.
Ronda McGee, a member of the Relay team said the TATU, a group comprised of Windber students, broke the $4,000 mark for the very first time. She said the Relay is where "we bring the survivors together to hopefully uplift one another. We have a number of Relay teams here today, but we are gathering to care about one another, survivors, caregivers and people who are joining together in the fight against cancer."
McGee introduced one such survivor, Gaynelle Schmieder, of Ebensburg, the guest speaker, who was diagnosed with lung cancer, March 1, 2007, after having a part of her right lung removed.
Schmieder a registered nurse and assistant professor of Health Sciences at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College said to the Relay 133 participants, in addition to 50 cancer survivors.
