Relay For Life wrap up

The Relay For Life campaign will wrap up Tuesday night with a dinner for committee members, team captains and other essential volunteers who have helped with the 2006 drive that ended early last Saturday morning.

The dinner, which will allow Chairman Jerry Camp to announce final donation totals, hand out team donation awards and thank all of the volunteers, is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Rosa Mae Griffin Fellowship Hall in the First Presbyterian Church.

"We have learned two things about Relay For Life in Kilgore in four years," Camp said. "The first, and most important thing, is that Kilgore has stepped up to the plate every year and hit a home run when it comes to donating to cancer research. The second is that, if we ever need rain in town, we will schedule Relay for that day, and it is a 100 percent guarantee that it will rain."

For the fourth year out of four, rain played a part in Kilgore's Relay For Life fund raiser.

Due to the threat of strong storms in the area and the desire to keep all of the participants safe, organizers asked teams to clear out of the complex at approximately 2 a.m. Saturday morning. There had been light sprinkles off and on during the evening, but EMS officials at the event said definite severe weather was on the way, so the activities were halted five hours before the scheduled conclusion.

"We did not want in any way to put people in harm's way," Camp said. "And, after hearing the reports of storms on the way, we decided to cut the event short."

The second Kilgore Relay for Life fund raiser, in 2004, was stopped at 5 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. because of bad storms, and sure enough a strong thunderstorm pelted Kilgore at about 6:30 a.m. Committee members were glad that year, due to the strength of the storm that hit, that they cleared everyone out of the sports complex.

The same can be said this year. The strong rains and wind hit Kilgore about two hours after everyone was gone - at 4:30 a.m. Saturday - and organizers again were glad that all participants were gone and a good portion of the clean up work was done before the severe weather rolled through town.

"We want to have a great event, but we will never keep people there when they are in any kind of danger," Camp said.

Before the abrupt end, Kilgore's fourth Relay For Life was a financial success. Attendance was down, though, apparently because of the threat of rain which hung over Kilgore all day long.

"Without giving anything away, it looks as if we will have a good total to present Tuesday night," Camp said. "Our numbers as far as people who were at the complex on Friday night were down a bit due to the threat of rain (it was overcast and threatening from early afternoon Friday until the grounds were cleared Saturday morning), but we are appreciative of anyone who had anything to do with this Relay. Kilgore supports Relay For Life very well, and we just want local people to know how grateful we are that they want to help."

Another positive in the 2006 Kilgore Relay was the temperature, Camp commented.

"Last year, it couldn't have been any colder - even in the dead of winter," he said.

"We had rain right at the first of the event that was followed by winds and dropping temperatures. It was pretty miserable last year."

This year, however, even with the threat of rain the temperatures were fairly constant and fairly pleasant.

"The temperatures ranged from the 70s to the low 60s while we were having Relay this year," he said. "As the night wore on, people needed a light jacket. But, it never got even remotely close to the cold temperatures we experienced last year, which is a blessing."

Those who attended the 2006 Kilgore Relay For Life fund raiser had a great time, Camp said. More than 70 survivors walked the opening lap of the evening, 25 caregivers walked the second lap after escorting their survivors and then nearly 40 teams took to the course to walk for cancer research.

A hula hoop contest generated a lot of attention as Dr. Jeff Davis' daughter and Valerie Conner's daughter were engaged in a lengthy battle to see who could hula the longest. Even making the girls hop on one leg while doing the hula did not stop them. Finally, both of them were declared winners and given prizes.

The Elvis Look-A-Like contest saw Trooper Bob Lindley, dressed as Ancient Elvis, win the prize, while the Conner Family Crusaders won best campsite for setting up a soda shop and selling burgers and malts during the evening. Citizens Bank was second.

After the wrap up party on Tuesday, Relay committee members will get a break for the summer before starting again in August or September on the planning for the 2007 Relay For Life event. Rachel Conner, a vice president with Citizens Bank, will be the chairman for the next fund raiser.