by JEN BIUNDO
Luminarias honoring cancer survivors, as well as those who lost their battle, lit up the center of the makeshift indoor track at this weekend’s Relay for Life. (Photos by Bruce fisher)
Last weekend, millions of people in thousands of communities across America and worldwide took part in the Relay for Life, an overnight march against cancer, and Hays County was no exception.
On May 14, 388 participants on 38 teams from the Buda and Kyle area raised nearly $67,000 for the American Cancer Society.
Originally scheduled to be held on the Barton Middle School track, torrential rains forced the relay indoors to Buda’s Painted Horse Pavilion.
The top three teams were Buda Dental with $5,659, the Relay committee with $4,859, and Kyle Elementary, with $3,071. The top three individual fundraisers were Rick Waddell with $2,260, Debbie Koehler with $1,975 and Denise Marks with $1,630.
The fourth highest individual participant, Sarah Teeter, raised $1,445. Teeter lost her father last year to lymphatic cancer and relayed in his honor.
Because of cancer, Teeter said her father, a Harris County prosecutor, won’t be able to watch his granddaughter grow up or teach his grandson how to work a horse ranch.
“This disease we are fighting took over his brain and took away the words he was never short on before,” Teeter said. “Every day, I wake up and cannot imagine life without him.”
Correction: In the original version of this story, the Hays Free Press incorrectly reported that the event raised only $22,000. Totals taken from the website only included credit card donations and did not cover cash donations.
