For its inaugural year, Camp Verde’s Relay For Life was a success, raising more than $17,000 for the American Cancer Society to help one day eradicate the disease.
Fundraising teams lined the Camp Verde High School football field last May and walked overnight for the cause. Cancer doesn’t sleep, and neither did the teams. However, it was beginning to look like the event’s first year might have been its last, when the original organizers weren’t able to put as much effort into organizing this year’s event, and no one else stepped up.
It turned out that there are a few people who didn’t want to give up that easily. The event is still on for 2009, but organizers have moved it to September in an effort to get more help and support.
Karen Conover doesn’t want to see the event go away, but she needs help. Last year, Conover and her team from KC’s Family Tae Kwon Do led a huge effort to help raise money. Conover has volunteered to be this year’s publicity chair, but she needs more volunteers to help carry the weight of the organizing efforts.
There’s a lot of work to be done, Conover said, if people want this event to see its second year.
That’s an understatement, Sara Eby, a coordinator for the American Cancer Society, said. These events don’t just magically happen, Eby said, it takes a lot of dedication to help pull off a relay successfully.
Considering that just about everyone has been affected by cancer in one way or the other, Eby hopes that Camp Verde residents will rise to the challenge.
The event is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Sept. 18, at Camp Verde High School, although the specifics may change as the organizational effort develops.
The first local meeting for all interested volunteers is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m., KC’s Tae Kwon Do, 155 S. Montezuma Castle Highway.
For more information, call Eby at (928) 526-2896 or visit CVRelay.org.
