Planning for the 2017 Relay for Life of Pope and Yell Counties is in full swing, with the kickoff for teams in Pope County scheduled for Sept. 6 at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.
The 2017 Relay for Life will take place April 29.
Charlia Pack of Atkins, chairwoman for the annual fundraiser, said the team kickoff will be a come-and-go event from 6-7 p.m. in Room 325 of the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center. A separate kickoff will be held on a date still to be determined in October at a location in Dardanelle, she said.
“This year’s kickoff is a come-and-go kickoff because I understand we all have busy lives,” Pack said. “Something I hear all the time is, ‘I don’t have time; I’m too busy,’ and I get that, I really do. As a full-time working mother, I understand we all have jobs, our families, our church, our school, and those are all very important things we cannot just put to the side.
“But you know what? You can incorporate each one of those into volunteering and raising money to fight cancer. It only takes a small amount of time and effort to give back, but it makes a huge impact that will last lifetimes. So, if this is your first Relay or your 20th, please join me on Sept. 6 and find out how you can be a part of the 2017 Relay for Life of Pope and Yell Counties’ Carnival for a Cure.”
The 2017 Relay for Life, which is the signature fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, will see a number of changes, Pack said. One of the biggest changes will be the location. For the first time, Relay for Life will be in downtown Russellville at Depot Park. The event, from 5-10 p.m., will have more of a festival-type feel to it, she said, in keeping with the Carnival for a Cure theme.
The event will feature rides for children, games and other activities, a variety of vendors and food trucks, and a full lineup of entertainment.
Traditional Relay for Life activities, such as the recognition of survivors, the survivor lap and the luminaria ceremony, will remain focal points of the event, Pack said.
Another tradition of Relay for Life in Pope and Yell Counties is the annual survivor banquet. The 2017 banquet will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m April 24 at the Dardanelle Community Center.
Pack said the location of the banquet is part of an effort to have Yell County more directly involved in the relay than it has been in the recent past. On the event’s planning committee, known in American Cancer Society language as the event leadership team, are two community champions whose primary goal is team recruitment and engagement in the two counties.
Rashad Woods, assistant editor at a local newspaper and lifelong resident of Dardanelle, is filling that role in Yell County.
“This will be the first year that I will be working with the Relay for Life, but I have been going to all the events for many years, “ Woods said.
Like most of the event’s volunteers, Woods has been touched by cancer. His grandparents, two aunts and a cousin have all battled the disease.
Woods will be assisted by Taylor Gamez, an Arkansas Tech journalism student and a resident of London, Arkansas.
In Pope County, the community-champion duties are being filled by Sherry Wilson, another newcomer to the event’s planning committee.
Wilson has been in education for 22 years and teaches sixth-grade reading at Pottsville Middle Grades.
“I wanted to be involved because, on some level, cancer affects everyone of us. I have had family members and close friends die from cancer and several family and friends that survived cancer. I feel like I need to do my part to help.”
Like Woods and Wilson, Pack’s involvement in Relay for Life has been influenced by her own experiences with cancer.
She became involved in 2009 after her mother was diagnosed the previous year with ovarian cancer. Pack has served as team captain the past two years. In 2015, her husband of 21 years, Stephen, was diagnosed with kidney cancer. She agreed to serve as the event leader for the 2017 Relay, “and I have to say if it wasn’t for the support of not only my husband and children but also my work family at First State Bank, I don’t think this would be possible. They understand what matters, and it makes a huge difference in being able to give back to the community,” Pack said.
“Relay is where my heart is, and I hope to make 2017 a great year for survivors, for the community and for Relay.”
Other members of the planning committee and their positions are entertainment and luminaria, Jennifer Lackie; the entertainment subcommittee, Amelia and Jonathan Underwood; youth engagement, Julie Hodges; vendor sponsorships, Sarah Chenault; and accounting, Teresa Gunter, Brittany Tolliver, Brenda McWhorton, Elizabeth Hunnicutt and Jessica Plumlee.
Information about the Relay for Life of Pope and Yell Counties is available by contacting Pack at relayofpope.yell@hotmail.com.
There is also information on social media at the event’s Facebook page, Relay for Life of Pope and Yell Counties, and on Instagram at relayofpope.yell.
Pack said the event’s website, relayforlife.org/popear, will be updated with 2017 event information on Sept. 1, after the close of the official 2016 Relay year.