Allison Cafe

Wow, what a weekend we just had. My body is tired, but my heart is full. A very special and heart felt thank you to everyone who supported the 2009 Relay For Life of Clairemont, CA. The event this past weekend was the first year that the Relay For Life was held in Clairemont, and words cannot describe how well it went. This is the 25th anniversary of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, the largest grassroots fund raising event in the world. There are over 5,000 Relays that take place across the globe. I am excited to say that our first year in Clairemont was a huge success, on many levels.

Let the 24 hours of walking begin!

Not only did we raise over $30,000, (yes that is right, this isn’t a typo, our little “baby” Relay raised an unbelievable amount of donations) we also gave a live demonstration of the power of the human spirit. We had over 140 participants, 15 teams, many wonderful volunteers, survivors, and caregivers, and a group of very generous sponsors; who all helped pull off one the most successful first year Relays that the American Cancer Society has ever seen.

Thanks to our event photographer, Tony, our in-kind sponsor Firefly Films, and our media sponsors: KUSI News, CBS Channel 8 News San Diego and the Clairemont Community News; our event had unbelievable coverage in our local community. We are slowly gathering and editing all of the wonderful coverage of our event. Below is the news clip from Channel 8 News. Thank you to Richard Allyn and the entire News 8 team for your comprehensive coverage of our event on Saturday May 16th.

Sleepless in Clairemont, Relay For Life 2009

The event began in the morning with a very special Survivor’s reception on Saturday. The local news team from KUSI News joined us for our Survivor reception and interviewed two Survivors as well as myself. A special thank you to Lena Lewis and the entire KUSI News team for covering our event. Without the aid of our media sponsors, we wouldn’t be able to get the word out about this wonderful event. Survivors were all given a special purple event t-shirt and a few other welcome gifts before the opening Celebrate Ceremony at 10:00am.

My second live television interview!

The Celebrate Ceremony at 10:00am, kicked off our event. We were very fortunate to have several special guests from the community at our opening ceremony, including Bill Griffith from Channel 10 News and a member of Donna Frye’s office. Thanks to our in-kind sponsor, Firefly Films, we will have footage of the entire Celebrate Ceremony to share with you in the very near future. The Celebrate Ceremony concluded with a very special and emotional dove release, which offered a moment of hope and healing for the Survivors, among many other emotions I’m sure.

Survivors getting to know their new Dove friends

A very moving Dove release

Following the Celebrate Ceremony, the Survivors and their Caregivers took a very moving first lap around the track to kick off the event. From that point on, Relay teams began walking the track in shifts for 24 hours. Why for one weekend did over 140 participants go without sleep? Because cancer never sleeps.

The vocal stylings of Pink Army

Boy Wonder, Lil Niqo

Throughout the afternoon on Saturday there was a phenomenal lineup on the main stage of local entertainment (click here to see the full agenda), including some fresh young talent from Lil Niqo and The Pink Army. Wow, could these kids work the stage. I can hardly explain their energy level and talent, you just have to check them out for yourself! There were so many talented performances throughout the afternoon, it is hard to contain them all in one post, but as we get some of the video clips processed, I hope to share them back with you. They really were phenomenal. And our Event Chair, Chelle, did a fantastic job of arranging the event schedule.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers, which made it all possible

Volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the day at the Luminaria and Fight Back tents to promote cancer awareness and to get all of the Luminaria bags decorated and placed on the track for the Remember Ceremony later that evening.

I can not describe the beauty that comes out at events like this. Volunteers give of themselves to make events like this happen and ask for nothing in return. We had some truly talented people helping us and I had the pleasure of working alongside many of them throughout the day on Saturday.

Visitors to the Fight Back tent on Saturday took the time to make a pledge to do just one thing each day for the next year to fight back against cancer, a disease that takes so much from us. Pledges ranged from wearing sunscreen, or eating healthy to volunteering or pledging to join the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. After making their pledges, visitors took at Fight Back flag and planted it in the Fight Back Garden, as a symbol of their pledge.

Fighting back, one day at a time

As the day turned to night, the Luminaria bags, each decorated with the name of a loved one who battles or has battled cancer, lined the track and were lit for the Remember Ceremony that evening.

We love you Aunt Kathy

The Remember Ceremony is a time to reflect and to remember those that we have lost to cancer. The ceremony was too beautiful for words. We were fortunate enough to hear from several speakers whose lives have been touched by

cancer during the ceremony. We heard from a cancer Survivor, as she described her battle and urged others to make their health a priority and continue in the fight against cancer. We also heard from a Caregiver, who lost her husband to cancer last year. Tears come to my eyes now as I remember her speech. She spoke with such courage and love, I had not only sympathy for her loss but a tremendous amount of admiration for her strength. The ceremony had so many special moments, it is hard to describe them all here. What I can tell you is that as the ceremony ended and as the teams continued their walking, and others retired to their tents for the night, a stillness came over the track. I stood and looked around at the many Luminaria bags that lined the entire track, and even those that spelled the word H-O-P-E on the bleachers. I prayed for a moment for each name on each bag and for their loved ones. I was overcome by the beauty that I saw and the realization that these bags represented a life, each and every one of the many bags that lined the track. It was then that I knew that my months of tireless effort in helping to plan this event were not simply for a great cause, there were part of something bigger.

When I awoke early on Sunday morning at 5am, I was thrilled to see that the bags were all still lit, they burned from 9pm the night before until 6am the next day. It made for a beautiful morning. We started our day on Sunday with a great yoga stretch lead by Sol Yoga. I had no idea just how sore I was from the day before until our yoga instructor, Heather, started the yoga class and I began stretching my muscles. I think I am a little less sore today because of Heather’s gentle instruction on Sunday.

Thank you Summer!

To conclude our event we had a very special Fight Back ceremony to motivate and inspire all of our participants and visitors to take what they had started here this weekend, and carry it forward throughout the year. We had a talented writer and speaker tell her story at our Fight Back ceremony, my sister Summer. Summer told her story of how cancer had affected her family, and how she has used the knowledge that she has gained through that experience to educate and inspire those around her to fight back against skin cancer. I’m still touched this morning as I think about what phenomenal job she did. We ended the ceremony by paying tribute to our hard working volunteers and participants and taking one final lap around the track before ending the event at 10am on Sunday.

All I can say now is thank you. Thank you to everyone who supported us and to all of you who made your pledge to fight back against cancer. Together we will win the fight against cancer. Save the date for next year, May 15-16, 2010!

Thank you Stephen!

A few more personal thank yous. Thank you to my amazing husband for joining me in the Relay For Life fund raising and preparation, supporting me and for your tireless work this weekend at the event. Thank you to my parents for joining us on both days for the event, making 200 hundred cookies for our bed time stories with milk and cookies on Saturday, lending us the RV for Saturday night and for supporting our event. Thank you to Stephen’s parents for all of your support as well, you have been a tremendous support even from afar. Thank you to Summer and Matt for journeying down to Clairemont on Sunday and for Summer’s amazing and heart felt speech on Sunday. Thank you to all of my wonderful friends and family who supported me through this process and who donated time and/or money to this great cause. I love you all and could not have done it without you!

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