Annual Relay for Life slated for April 28
The American Cancer Society in Texarkana is gearing up for Relay for Life.
This year’s event, “We Can be Heroes,” will take place from 3:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. April 28 at the Four States Fairgrounds on the midway.
The organization’s goal is to raise $30,000 with this year’s relay.
“All of the money goes to the American Cancer Society to fund programs available for any cancer survivor or caregiver,” said Katie Stone, volunteer and team co-leader for Relay for Life.
One program ACS is working on locally is providing low-cost hotel stays for cancer patients driving to this area for treatment.
“We just established some hotels in the area for people who travel for cancer treatments. They’ll be able to stay here for little to no money at all. That’s huge for us,” Stone said.
Road to Recovery, another program funded by ACS, is where volunteers drive cancer patients to doctor appointments or chemotherapy or radiation treatments.
Locally ACS is working to get the Look Good, Feel Better program up and running.
“Cancer patient often lose their hair when receiving treatments or their skin isn’t they same. They may have no eyebrows or eyelashes. All those things can affect them. ACS started this campaign because they wanted everyone to look good but feel better. So we get volunteers to come, make-up artists, cosmotologists, whoever can volunteer to assist with these cancer patients and helping them look good and feel better,” Stone said.
ACS is looking for more participants for Relay for Life.
“Most people do participate as part of a team. Right now we have 11 teams but we’d like more. You can start a team in honor of a survivor or in memory of someone who’s passed. Companies and groups participate. There are all kinds of reasons people do Relay,” Stone said.
Paint the Town Purple is another event ACS has coming up April 6. The organization invites businesses and individuals to decorate their homes or businesses with a purple theme to raise awareness of what ACS is doing to fight all types of cancer.
“It’s an awareness thing,” Stone said. “There are awards for the best entries and we’ll take pictures and put them on our Facebook page.”
For more information about ACS or Relay for life visit relayforlife.org/texarkanatx or email Stone at katielovestorelay@yahoo.com. ACS also has an information line that’s available 24/7 at 1-800227-2345.
“They have support services available over the phone. People will give you information about anything the American Cancer Society is doing,” Stone said.