(Seguin) — The fundraising efforts of Relay for Life of Guadalupe County are apparently more important than ever. The local effort was reportedly spared by the American Cancer Society who unfortunately was forced to cancel the efforts of many other Texas counties following a huge financial hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Not only were other Relays cancelled, but staff members who assist committees with their events were also let go. Fortunately, the position for a staff partner was left untouched in Guadalupe County.
In fact, Jordan Keller has recently stepped into the position to assist Guadalupe County Relay for Life.
Relay for Life helps to raise money for cancer research and prevention and to continue the cancer services that are provided year round to individuals in the community.
Keller says the impact of the pandemic has been real in the fight against cancer. She says Guadalupe County is literally only a handful of the counties who have been allowed to continue to operate.
“Another really important reason that we have this Relay and this Relay is so important to our county is in the state of Texas, we have had ‘oh gosh, I don’t remember the statistic exactly but so many Relays just not being able to make it post pandemic and being able to host events and host fundraising. We have smaller Relays in surrounding counties trying to join ours to help us. It goes to show that Guadalupe County’s impact is more important than ever now because there aren’t as many Relays as there used to be. There’s not as much fundraising as there used to be and being able to not only have an event but have something year round in our county that shows that we are fighting against cancer and helps with that impact throughout the state is really really important,” said Keller.
The handful of counties that Keller mentioned is estimated at being as low as five counties that are left. That’s compared to the 20 counties
that led Relay events pre-COVID in the Central South Texas Region.
That region includes Austin, San Antonio and everything south.
Ready to welcome in and make room for many of these counties and areas is Misti Abrameit-Guenther. Guenther, who for the last few years has lead the local efforts for Guadalupe County, says she is hoping that the inclusion of these surrounding communities will only help strengthen what Guadalupe County is already doing.
“Anybody who wants to participate, we would love it. We need the extra manpower. We need to be able to bring in those other communities and the other ideas to help keep Relay alive so we welcome them with open arms. We welcome anyone who wants to join and help us because you know I have a huge passion for cancer. I hate cancer and I feel strong everyday to have a world with no cancer and the pandemic really just put a real dent in that and the progress that has been made and so, we have a lot of traction to get back. So, I’m excited to have them and welcome anybody who would really like to help out and continue because the communities that they service have programs and so now, we have more communities to service, more programs that we want to be able to contribute to their programs so that they can have those same services in their county,” said Guenther.
Guenther says even during the pandemic, local fundraising efforts were in place to bring in every dollars possible. She says it was this determination that she believes kept Guadalupe County off the chopping block.
“We are at $44,000 currently. We have $12,000 in sponsorships — Barbara Behal, she killed it in sponsorships and so we have raised $44,000 and what has changed for us a little bit in the budgeting year is that it will go to the end of the year for us. Our Relay will be in September but we will continue to raise funds until the end of the year for this particular fiscal year,” said Guenther.
The focus for the Relay for Life committee is now on its in-person event this fall. Guenther says while it might be a bit different, it will feature all the same components that folks have come to appreciate year after year.
“Our event will be on Sept. 11 and it’s going to be at the big pavilion in the pecan bottom so it’s going to be an outdoor event of course. We just loved having it at the El Fiesta because of being able to control the weather a little bit more indoors but we will have the camp, tent sites set up. It will not be an all night event. It will be a shorter version in the late afternoon to early evening which will allow more people to be able to attend and not feel like they have to be there so long. But the exciting thing is this year, we are going to have some door prizes and raffle prizes for people to entice them to come on down to the event because you can win something,” said Guenther.
Although safety will continue to be key in planning the event, Guenther says survivors will still receive the recognition that they deserve.
“It may look just a slight bit different but it’s still the same heart, the same message. The heart around Relay is those survivors and we want our survivors to know that we are there for them. We are fighting for them and we will continue to fight for more celebrations.
We will not get to have a Survivors Dinner this year but we are going to start a little bit early that day for our survivors and have a big celebration for them the day of our event. It’s just that a less touching, less in-person event is better right now while we are trying to recover from the pandemic and everything. So, we have some great things planned for them,” said Guenther.
The next step now, according to Guenther, is to welcome in more teams and counties to the local effort. She says when it comes to Relay, it’s never too late to join or begin a team.
“Everyday unfortunately, we deal with somebody else, somebody’s new diagnosis and I know that there’s folks out there that want to either remember somebody. They want to rally around somebody who is fighting or they just want to celebrate the win over beating cancer and so we would love to have more teams. More teams means more people fundraising and more people committed to the event. So, teams are very important. We may have a small amount of teams at the moment, but we had new teams sign up (on Tuesday) in our Zoom meeting to be able to discuss Relay more. So, it was very exciting for that. Our teams may be small and our Relays could be kind of small but I’m telling you, we are pretty mighty in Guadalupe County. We really can step it up and make it happen,” said Guenther.
This year’s Relay for Life event will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11 at Max Starcke Park. Luminarias to be lit in honor or in memory of someone impacted by cancer are also now on sale and can be purchased on the Relay for Life website. Sign-up for teams is also available at wwwrelayforlife.org/seguintx. The next team meeting is scheduled both in person and/or via Zoom on Tuesday, Aug. 10. The meeting location will be at 1064 E. Ireland.