2/21/08
Clarendon’s Relay for Life 2008 gets underway
By Jerriod Grizzle

Manning Times File Photo

Hundreds of Clarendon County’s cancer survivors take the official first lap at Relay for Life. This year’s Relay theme is “Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back,” something that Co-Chair Pete Surette said is personal to a lot of people because cancer affects so many people here.

This could be the largest year ever for Relay for Life in Clarendon County.

The two day event raises money for finding the cure to cancer while helping those that have lost someone to the disease remember their loved ones and survivors tell their stories, being a testament of how they won their battle.
The Relay for Life Committee met Feb. 1l at the Manning United Methodist Church to discuss the upcoming event and the details of who, what, when and where.

“We have 40 teams so far and we are starting out strong. We raised $143,000 last year and we are hoping to raise $140,000 this year,” said Beth Johnson, Community Income Manager with the American Cancer Society for the South Atlantic Division.

She said that this year also had the largest committee working on the event and she was amazed to see how they all worked together.

“We have a lot of people that are new and those that have been there for a while,” said Johnson. “We have committees where they have never been before.”

Johnson said that the Clarendon County Relay has 27 teams returning with 13 new teams that have joined this year.

“It is pretty awesome what the county does for its size,” she said. “A lot of counties can’t come together for the community. It is really personal for these folks. They are really serious about it.”

Johnson said that more teams are encouraged to sign up for Relay and can sign up until the week before Relay.

“Anyone can join and you don’t have to be on a team but we do encourage that if you are going to have a team that it be five to 30 people and that each one try to raise $100,” she said.

This year’s event is scheduled for May 9 and 10 at the Manning High School football stadium.

“The high school has been so generous in letting us have the area,” she said. “The art classes go out and decorate the walkway going into the stadium. It is really beautiful.”

This year’s American Cancer Society motto, “Celebrate, Remember and Fight Back” is something that Event Co-Chair Pete Surette said is personal to a lot of people.

“We have had a positive response from the county and it always has been big because cancer touches so many people,” he said.

Surette co-chairs the event with his wife Janene.

According to the American Cancer Society, Clarendon County has about 2,000 people that have had cancer at some point in their lives.

“Our ultimate goal is to end cancer but along the way we have to get education out there,” said Surette.
He said that one of his goals for this year is to get more survivors involved.

“We want survivors out here and involved. We want them to register with us so that we can know who they are and have information available from us to them as well,” he said.

One question that Surette said Relay has answered already this year is where the money raised from walk is going.

“It is one of the biggest things that people ask,” he said. “The monies are going locally to assist cancer victims with lodging, gas and vouchers.”

There is another meeting of the committee Feb. 21 at 5:45 at Manning UMC for team captains.

If anyone would like to join a Relay team or enter their own team, contact Pete or Janene Surette by email at petejr@sc.rr.com or Teams Coordinator, Shatiqua Cooper at shatiqua29102@yahoo.com.