Guadalupe County joins forces with Comal County for annual Relay for Life fundraiser at Max Starcke Park
(Seguin) – Guadalupe County is tag teaming with Comal County in the fight against cancer. This year, Relay for Life of Guadalupe & Comal will be raising funds on Saturday from 2 to 7 p.m. at the big pavilion located at Max Starcke Park East.
Committee member and cancer survivor Jim Johnson says they expect to see many new faces at this year’s Relay for Life fundraiser.
He says the COVID pandemic has caused a lot of changes and challenges for communities to Relay as they have in the past. He says in Comal’s case, it was forced to pair up with an American Cancer Society staffer from out of state making the ability to work together more complicated. It was then that Comal organizers pitched the idea to join forces with the group here in Guadalupe County and work with their staffer out of Austin.
“We are looking forward to their teams joining us for the main event on Saturday. I know there are several teams from New Braunfels that are planning to be there and hopefully a lot of the community will come out that would normally come out to their event there in New Braunfels,” said Johnson.
Johnson says by combining the efforts of both communities, he believes it will not only continue to strengthen fundraising efforts but also their message of why it is so important to “Relay.”
“It all goes to Relay for Life to help with cancer research and different programs that ACS has — the Road to Recovery. The ACS finally opened a home in Houston close to MD Anderson for cancer patients to be able to stay in where it’s not so costly for them,” said Johnson.
He says understanding the importance of these funds is what helps drive these teams to fundraise and host their individual food, game, or activity booths at the Relay for Life event.
“It all goes to Relay for Life to help with cancer research and different programs that ACS has — the Road to Recovery. The ACS finally opened a home in Houston close to MD Anderson for cancer patients to be able to stay in where it’s not so costly for them,” said Johnson.
Johnson says he looks forward to seeing the two sets of teams come together. He says he is especially excited to welcome cancer survivors to the event for special recognition and celebration.
“The event is actually from 2 to 7 p.m. but the Survivor Reception will be at 1:30 p.m. so we want to encourage all cancer survivors to come out at 1:30 — get registered and pick up a t-shirt and there will be refreshments for the survivors. We had a pretty good success last year with just Seguin teams at the pavilion so that’s why we decided that we wanted to do it again this year,” said Johnson.
The event is free and again welcomes anyone in the community to stop by for food and fun. A solemn luminaria ceremony remembering those cancer victims will also be held during the last hour with names being read at around 6:15 p.m. Those wishing to submit names are asked to stop by in advance to the ceremony.
For more than 20 years, Johnson says Relay for Life of Guadalupe County and Relay for Life of Comal County have partnered with the American Cancer Society (ACS) on a mission to free the world from cancer.
In late August, over 150 cancer survivors and caregivers attended the annual Survivor Dinner at the McQueeney Lions Club.