Submitted by The Plant Place Nursery
The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life has raised nearly $5 billion to date to improve cancer survival, decrease the incidence of cancer, and improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their caretakers. More than 5,000 Relay For Life events are held in 20 countries and are organized and implemented by local volunteers.
A Relay For Life event is organized under a volunteer Relay Planning Committee, and implemented by volunteers. It is often organized as a multi-day public gathering, spanning all day and night in a large outdoor space, and many people bring tents and camp out around the walking tracks. Currently, almost 4 million people take part in Relay events in over 5,000 communities in the United States.
The Thurston County Relay For Life is a two-day event held at Timberline High School in Lacey. Participating teams place at least one team member on the school track at all times during the 24 hour event. Most team members walk in the memory of a loved one lost to cancer. The event raised more than $311,000 in 2014.
One local team, The Plant Place, is typical in its roots and continuing support to the American Cancer Society.
In 2009, Angie Dorian was a direct sales representative for Sensaria, a skin care company based in Shelton. She had booked a sales event to be combined with a fund raising effort in memory of a child who died of leukemia. In addition, she attended an Aberdeen Relay For Life vendor event, supported it by donating her sales commission, and began to think about becoming more involved with Relay, as she had lost her mother, her birthmother and birth grandmother to cancer.
She invited her friends and Sensaria sales team members to join her in organizing a Relay for Life team in Thurston County to honor those lost to cancer while at the same time make a real effort against the disease that took her loved ones. “Instead of going off and being sad, I could turn my attention to helping fight back with all my energies being put to a good cause,” she said.
As a result, the Sensaria Sisters Relay For Life team was launched and in six weeks had raised $2,000. The Plant Place Nursery signed on as team sponsor in 2010 and has renewed its sponsorship every year since the beginning.
At the team’s first Relay for Life event appearance in June, 2009, Dorian received a phone call from her lifelong best friend, Marie Lehman, who told her that she had just been diagnosed with bile duct cancer. Despite an intense battle, Lehman passed away in January 2010.
The loss of her best friend doubled Angie Dorian’s already strong commitment to Relay for Life.
Now coming up on seven years, The Plant Place team has 25 members, ranging in age from 13 to more than 72. As a team, they’ve raised more than $78,000 in six years. All team members have their personal stories about cancer and they all participate in Relay for those personal reasons.
The Plant Place Relay For Life team welcomes anyone to join them and help raise funds in the fight against cancer. You can find them on Facebook, on their Relay website , or reach them by e-mail at angiedorian@gmail.com.
Upcoming fundraising events for The Plant Place Relay For Life team:
April 18 – Comedy Night
May 8 – Blooming Bunco at the VFW Hall in Olympia
June 26-27 – Relay For Life at Timberline High School, Lacey
