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After opening the festivities with a walk around the track,
cancer survivors commemorated the 15th Forest Lake Relay for Life with
a special pose. Click to see more photos.
(Photo by Rich Ihlenfeldt, pilot Roger Dufresne)
Jennifer Larson
Staff Writer
Not only did this year mark 15 years of the Forest Lake Relay for Life but also a milestone – a record-setting $225,000 was raised for the annual race held on Friday, Aug. 1.
Nancy Rosman, the local Relay chairperson, was in disbelief by how far the 2008 goal of $210,000 was exceeded when she announced the “Grand Total” on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 2.
The Relay for Life of Forest Lake has set the bar high in years past. In 2007, the goal of $180,000 was surpassed with $208,000 raised for the American Cancer Society.
Rosman said the group will start meeting regularly again in January to set the goals for next year’s event. She anticipates a decrease in fund raising for 2009.
Her sister, Virginia Spiegel, who is a top national fund raiser for the Relay, will be seeking about half as much financial support for the walk.
“We’re a little worried but we have new teams coming,” Rosman said, referring to next year’s fund raising efforts. “We’ll have momentum to continue us.”
At the end of the Relay, there were 40 teams comprised of 490 members. Over 4,100 luminarias were surrounding the track at Forest Lake High School. One hundred and thirty cancer survivors participated in the survivor lap.
Dorothy Sunne was the winner of a raffle drawing for a 7-day Caribbean cruise.
Winners of the Elementary Poster Contest are Katie Schaaf and Jack Forsell, both are students at Scandia Elementary, as well as Jordan Kohs (Forest Lake Elementary) and Bree Raabe (Forest View Elementary).
This year’s celebrated Relay for Life of Forest Lake’s 15th anniversary, which was specially commemorated by an aerial photo.
Team members who have participated in every Forest Lake Relay for Life over the last 15 years are Mary Ann Cooper, Therese Enquist, Ralph L’Allier, Donna Mathias, LeAnn Murray, Jean Peikert, Mylo Shoberg, Rita and Robert Pechmann.
Rosman said those nine team members were recognized during the kick-off ceremony with a certificate and a wooden dove. She noted that the dove is a symbol of peace, commitment and love.
“It’s hard to find something that represents the spirit of Relay,” Rosman said, of the dove.
Teams that participated in all 15 Relays are Allina Angels (Carna Brandt, captain), Friends of Faith (Dolly Johnson, captain), Cancer Cure-saders (Donna Mathias, captain) and Stars of the Night (Jeanne Lemberger, captain).
Listed below are just a handful of the many accomplishments made by various Relay for Life members.
• Cool Runnings #3 (Diane Zak, captain ) was the top fund raising team with a total of $67,386.
• The two top teams to raise locally are Looney Tunes (LaVone Radtke, captain) with $18,479.70 and Globe Trotters (Robert Pechmann, captain) coming in with $12,226.96.
• The top individual adult fund raisers are Matt Haider with $6,556.96, Jean Peikert with $5,080.37 and Donna Winberg with $3,770.
• The top individual youth fund raisers are Paige Bell with $520, Kendra Hibbison with $487 and Tiffany Lyons with $428.
Relay For Life raises community awareness as well as funds for the American Cancer Society’s patient services, research, advocacy and community education.
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