'Relay for Life' may Need New Home

They likened it to changing the location for the Super Bowl, or finding a new site for a wedding at the last minute. 

With four months to go until the annual Relay for Life event - which until last week had been planned for football field - district officials notified organizers that the annual American Cancery Society fundraiser may need to find a new home. 

And, during Tuesday night's school board meeting, district teachers Betsy Williams and Kathleen Welsh pleaded for the board to consider moving the construction of until sometime after the June 17-18 event. 

The board took no action and Superintendent Curtis Griffin did not have an immediate answer. 

"It’s a very difficult decision," Griffin said. "The start date is critical. If we wait until after June, our fall athletic programs would not be able to play on that field."

Regardless of when the construction is carried out, Griffin said, "there will be organizations that will be displaced."

Williams, who had chaired the event the last three years, said the local fundraiser has raised more than $1 million in the last five years to support cancer patient services locally. She said upwards of 1,000 people generally come out for the overnight event and 600 to 800 people participate. 

In addition, she said "tons of pamphlets and paperwork" have been printed listing the high school as the relay location. So far, sponsors have pledged $3,000 in support on the belief that the event would be held where it had been the last several years. 

At least for the moment, Williams said the group does not have an alternate location. And, finding a new site would likely cause funds to be diverted to cover unexpected costs including bathroom facilities and electricity.

Welsh, this year's event chair, brought her 4-year-old son Liam Hawk along to Tuesday's meeting. Liam has participated in the event every year since he was 18 months old, Welsh said, adding that he refers to it as "sleepover track."

For both Williams and Welsh, Relay for Life struck a personal cord. Williams lost her mother to breast cancer and Welsh's father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003. 

"I am empowered by doing something like that," Welsh said of the relay, which, for many, doubles as a cancer survival celebration. 

Welsh's mother, Diane Casey, of Warminster, tears up just at the thought of the event and the lives touched by cancer in her own family. Besides her husband, Casey said her nephew and mother-in-law have also battled cancer. 

"It just brings it all together," she said.