Small, dedicated team of volunteers lights up the night in honor of fight against cancer
EMRY DINMAN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 1 month AGO
A number of luminaria were set up under a large "Hope" sign donated to the Grant-Adams Relay for Life committee a number of years ago, and which is a standard feature of their events.
Emry Dinman/Columbia Basin Herald
Linda Marsh and Susan Pattinson, left and center, traveled all the way from Wenatchee, which was not having any Relay for Life events this year, in order to participate in the Saturday evening placing of the luminaria in Moses Lake. Donna Anderson, right, organized the event alongside Josie Sisson, believing it to be too important to skip even during a pandemic.
MOSES LAKE — A handful of volunteers, some from as far as Wenatchee, braved brisk winds Saturday night and lit luminarias to honor those who have battled cancer.
In a normal year, the annual Relay for Life in Moses Lake is a celebratory and communal event, organizers said, with attendees and volunteers coming together en masse out of respect for those battling cancer and to raise money for a cure.
“We have teams that fundraise all year long, and all that money goes to the American Cancer Society, and normally at our event, all of the teams come together and have a big celebration,” said Josie Sisson, one of the event’s organizers. “This year is ... a little different.”
The Relay for Life is a longtime fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and various groups have sponsored a relay in Moses Lake since 1988.
But once it became clear that the standard event wouldn’t be possible during the pandemic, the Grant-Adams Relay for Life committee decided to retain one of its more solemn ceremonies, the luminaria.
Volunteers or attendees write on a paper bag the names of a loved one currently fighting for their lives, or in memory of someone who has lost that fight. A small candle – battery-operated, in this case, due to the wind – is placed inside, lighting up the bag and offering a small beacon in the night.
While there couldn’t be a relay, with large groups of people walking laps with each other, organizers decided on a drive-thru format. Survivors and caregivers who attended Saturday’s event were given small gift bags stuffed with various items paid for out-of-pocket by volunteers. All attendees were given their paper bag and candle, and were able to exit their cars for a short time to place the luminarias and pay their respects.
Those small lights were placed along the gravel parking lot in the Grant County Fairgrounds Saturday night, concentrated around the large “Hope” sign that was donated to organizers a few years ago by Pacific Northwest Mechanical.
Though the event was notably truncated by the pandemic, the event’s volunteers, many of whom have lost loved ones to cancer, felt the need to show up and show their support.
“My daughter is a 13-year cancer survivor; she was diagnosed with cancer when she was 9,” Sisson said. “She’s 23 now.”
“I also lost my dad to stomach cancer two years before she was diagnosed,” Sisson said. “Her surviving and his passing brought me to Relay for Life. One of the medications that was used to treat her kind of cancer was found with Relay dollars.”
