Hanson’s help spans many miles, years

BELLA VISTA — Norman Hanson just completed his 27th year serving as a volunteer at the Cancer Challenge in Bella Vista. It may seem like he’s spent about that much time driving from his home to the annual event to give of his time and talents.

Hanson, who resides in Janesville, Wis., covers approximately 1,300 miles round trip when he drives to Northwest Arkansas for the annual fundraising event. He’s missed only two years, one for covid and another for a family event.

“My grandkid graduated from college, so it was either divorce court or graduation,” he joked.

So why does Hanson, now 76, keep burning up the miles to help with the challenge? It’s because of his friend Chris Roehl and the bonds of friendship — more like family by now — they’ve shared for many years.

“One of the reasons is that Chris’ mother died of cancer and we’ve had cancer problems in our family,” Hanson said. “The other thing is the money factor. You don’t have a bunch of in-between people gobbling up the money [raised by the challenge]. It comes in, you pay just a few employees and the rest goes to research.”

Hanson and the Roehls were neighbors in Wisconsin. He and Roehl’s father, Richard, struck up a friendship that lasted until Richard’s death in 2011.

“We were really good friends,” said Hanson. “We had a lot of fun. He was a good guy. We’d play three games of cribbage every day. At 3 o’clock. And drink three beers apiece.”

Chris Roehl, who lives in Bentonville, began volunteering with the Cancer Challenge as a way of helping the area in which he lived.

“I started because I wanted to be more involved in the community,” he said. “The previous executive director, I coached her daughter in soccer. That’s how the community is and was. You met people through other things. And because I wanted to be involved in things she started talking to me about the Cancer Challenge. At that point in my life no one in my family had been impacted by cancer, but I thought, ‘What a great cause.’”

Like Hanson, Chris Roehl saw how the money raised by the event went to where it was needed the most.

“Once you started working, and seeing where the money went, how the organization was run, you could tell it was a good thing,” he said. “And the volunteers who came and gave of their time … even though that was at the fairly early start of the Cancer Challenge, people had been doing it when it was the Phillips Classic prior to that, and it was the same people who kept coming back and they kept talking about what an awesome event it is. And that’s kind of how I got started in it.”

Roehl said his parents first came to the challenge in the early 1990s, mostly as an excuse to come to Northwest Arkansas to see their grandchildren.

“That was awesome because my dad was retired and he started coming down,” said Roehl. “My mom was having a lot of health issues and was having health issues even back then before she passed away. They came down to see their grandkids and to just be here. My dad could see when we were working out here that it took a huge effort and a lot of people to do this event. He said, ‘I know the perfect person to bring down with me. He’s the hardest working son of a gun you could ever find.’”

That person was Norman Hanson.

“Norm was our next door neighbor in Wisconsin,” Roehl said. “He was the one who mowed everybody’s lawn and blew off everybody’s driveways and sidewalks with the snow blower when it snowed. When anybody needed anything he was always the person who would do it. And he’s still that way.”

Hanson agreed to come to Bella Vista, and his work ethic was immediately put to the test.

“He came down for the first year, and we worked him to the bone. But he came back,” said Roehl. “I don’t want to speak for everybody, but I think once you do this for the second year you’re hooked because you meet so many great people.”

When Roehl’s mom passed away in 2001, his dad and Hanson “just kept coming” to help as volunteers.

“I think it had more meaning to all of us then,” he said.

Then, when Richard Roehl died in February of 2011, Chris Roehl wondered if Hanson would continue to volunteer, especially since Richard’s death came as plans for the challenge were close to being wrapped up.

“I figured, ‘ Well, it’s a changing of the guard, and we won’t have them down here any more,’” Roehl said. “I talked to Norm, and he said, ‘I’m planning on coming down for the Cancer Challenge.’ And that was awesome.”

Roehl said it’s wonderful how so many volunteers return to help each year with the Cancer Challenge, especially when so many of them lead such busy lives.

“When we had the volunteers’ dinner the other night there were a lot of volunteers who have been coming for 20 years and so many who’ve been coming for over 10 years,” he said. “Life goes on and you just expect that people won’t repeat. But it’s honestly like a little family out here.”

He added, “I think it’s mostly because people have big hearts for the organization and, like Norm was saying, the money stays here. It helps those locally.”