Relay for Life Palm Desert 2012

This entry was originally written for the TripBucket website to illustrate the Giving Back goal to Participate in Relay For Life.  It’s important to introduce readers to Relay as it will come up from time to time going forward.

I knew I wouldn’t need an alarm clock to insure my arrival at our Team’s site for Relay For Life by 6AM that Saturday morning for the 9 AM kickoff as my circadian rhythm hardly ever lets me stay in bed past 5 but what I hadn’t counted on was awakening at 2:34 AM to what I thought was the sound of a cricket. We just hired a new pest control company, Bug Zappers or whatever the catchy name, so it gave me great concern as I thought I recognized a familiar sound of the outdoors inside my home. My granddaughter and daughter were asleep in a guest bedroom having spent the night in anticipation of our 24 hour Relay event for which they volunteered to participate along with 30+ plus other friends and family members to comprise one of the more than 50 teams. I stood silently in the hallway outside their room but I couldn’t entice the little bugger to chirp again. Knowing any additional sleep was impossible, I made my way to the kitchen to click on the already set-up coffee pot and … there it was again, that sound. I silently tip-toed to an unoccupied back bedroom standing hawk-still hoping to identify my prey until my worst fear was confirmed – The damn smoke detector was signaling that I had neglected it a day too long. I quickly wracked my brain trying to remember if I could possibly locate a 9 volt battery while wondering how I was going to make the exchange in the ceiling located device without waking up everyone in the house trying to steal the last hours of sleep before the next 24+ wide awake ones that awaited them at the Relay. I slithered out to the garage after checking all the known repositories of store bought temporary electricity storage in our home, including the basket above the dryer that also held sponges (of which we have a life time supply, mind you). Every combination of batteries with letters A through D could be found but none that began with a number.Then it struck me. I thought I had at least 1 left-over smoke alarm in the garage from a property management assignment I completed a few months earlier and I hoped that a 9 volt battery was resident in that package while the chirping sound seemed to grow louder and more quickly paced. I found the package, went to grab the scissors to open it and discovered that I had relocated that cutting tool to our Relay campsite the evening before! Performing my best MacGiver impersonation I grabbed a paring knife and freed the problem solver from its incredibly hard to penetrate plastic cocoon. With the answer to my dilemma now resting comfortably in my pants pocket I hatched a scheme to move my 6 foot aluminum ladder from its wedged in position in the garage into the house, down the hallway to the back bedroom without disturbing those that might still be asleep. Nobody knows how much noise an aluminum ladder can make until they attempt to transport one down a pitch black hallway over tile flooring but somehow I completed my amateur handyman duties without awakening any other occupants of our home.Thus began the day for the start of my participation in Relay for Life, the largest volunteer driven fund-raising event in the world with events staged in more than 50 countries. Not only was I going to participate but I had cavalierly taken upon myself the job of Team Captain when I first became acquainted with the event. I remember when I first became involved thinking, How hard could it be? to organize a few friends and family members taking turns walking non-stop around a high school track, day and night, for one day-long period. If the walking was all that was involved, it would certainly be a no-brainer, but while one of the purposes of Relay For Life is to raise funds for the worthy programs of the American Cancer Society the other lofty goals include Celebrating cancer Survivors, Remembering those that have fallen to the faceless assassin and providing the tools and education to help Fight Back against the horrible disease. I have more reasons than most to want to be involved in this effort but I came to learn during my preparation for this event that virtually everyone has been affected in some way by cancer.

In reality, months of planning and at least 6 Team Captain meetings did not fully prepare me for the 24 hours of organized chaos that ensued once the opening Survivors Ceremony signaled the start of our Relay. My team members were unfailing in their commitment to keep our Spirit Stick adorned with Team Mascot “Earl Owl” constantly moving around the ¼ mile (400 meter) rubberized track in spite of the nearly 100F (38C) degree day time temps and their contributions of everything liquid (except alcohol which is strictly forbidden), ice, snacks, sandwiches and a number of other forms of hydration and nutrition were over-abundant. Our at the event fund raising effort of t-shirt sales, owl puppets and other trinkets, contributed almost $500 to the team’s grand total that in total exceeded $9,500 due to a good amount of on-line fundraising, was diminutive compared to our team’s overall take but we can do better than that next time, we know. We educated other Relay attendees about proper nutrition, skin care and culturally significant issues regarding cancer. We honored and remembered more than 70 Survivors, Caregivers and beloved friends and family members that were counted among cancer’s victims during the tear-jerking Luminaria Ceremony, complete with bagpiper in full kilt. We had a real presence at the grand finale which included a final lap with New Years’ Eve type noise-making in an effort to demonstrate the resolve of the weary walkers about the Fight Back mentality and to continue to work harder for even More Birthdays for cancer Survivors. And, the son of one of our Team members won a brand new bicycle at the event closing raffle!

As pleased and humbled as I was at the success of the event and the performance of our team, none of these details caught me off-guard; I was deeply touched by the level of commitment of my Fellow Relayers and the whatever it takes mentality of my Team Members. I was more than impressed by the painstaking effort of the event organizers and the other teams’ efforts. However, the biggest surprise of all, the one that had me shaking my head in disbelief as I left the site of our Relay was the appearance of the Palm Desert High School Marching Band in full cymbal and drums just about the time some of our folks thought it best to occupy their tents for a few hours of badly needed sleep near midnight. I guess the message of the event organizers was soundly delivered in that performance: Cancer NEVER Sleeps!