Relay for Life kick-off to be staged today at Santa Monica Place
DOWNTOWN SM Everyone has a cancer story.
It was four years ago when Summer Lee Smith was working in the auditing department for accounting firm KPMG when she learned about an opportunity to join a relay team competing in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life charity event in Santa Monica. It was in that first year as a team member that the former Santa Monican lost her mother to cancer.
It was one of the reasons she became more involved.
Today, Smith still works at KPMG, and even though she has moved to Pasadena, she is still involved with the Santa Monica Relay for Life event, co-chairing the planning committee and helping raise awareness for the biggest fundraising event that the American Cancer Society engages in.
This afternoon from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Santa Monica Relay for Life will kick off its 2007 event, inviting the public to visit an informational party at the former Eddie Bauer space on the first floor of Santa Monica Place. The purpose of the event is to get the word out about the fundraising event, which will take place over a 24-hour period at John Adams Middle School from July 28 to 29.
The American Cancer Society hosts 57 different Relays for Life in Los Angeles County alone and 286 in California. There are events going on every weekend, year round.
More than 500 people participated in the Santa Monica event last year. The relay takes place throughout the day, starting at 9 a.m., with at least one person from each team on the track at all times during the 24 hours the event takes place.
“There is one person on each team on the track because cancer never sleeps and so it’s representative of what a cancer patient goes through,” said Anita Dominguez, community development manager for the American Cancer Society.
Each lap is dedicated, with the first lap dedicated to the survivors, the second lap to the caregivers and so on.
All proceeds will go towards services and educational programs sponsored by the American Cancer Society.
For the past two years,Venice-based artist Kathy Leonardo has been singing her heart out with her trusty guitar during the event, trying to raise the spirits of participants. Her mother had breast cancer and her aunt died from skin cancer.
“It’s a great cause and I think people need to get involved to generate funds to find a cure,” she said.
This year, Leonardo will be more involved with the event, volunteering to do publicity and participating on a team with her actor and performer friends.
“I can give a lot more than I did before, which is just showing up and singing a song,” she said.
Many volunteers and participants learn about the event through word of mouth from their friends and family members, which was the case for Tina Lynch who found out about Relay for Life recently through her good friend, Leonardo.
The native New Yorker had precancer in the cervix and had it removed twice — in 2000 and again about six weeks ago. Luckily, the cancer did not advance in either instances.
Unfortunately, her aunt died from Lymphoma.
As a volunteer, Lynch is involved in outreach, encouraging cancer survivors to participate in the Relay for Life.
Working in the Mobile Mammography unit in Santa Monica, Claudia Soto Miller sees first hand just how many people cancer affects.
“We have such a high volume of people with cancer,” she said.
The Bell Gardens resident experienced her own scare after a doctor discovered a tumor on top of her salivary gland. She was told that she could be paralyzed in the face, but luckily she survived a surgery last year unscathed.
Entering her second year as a volunteer for the Relay for Life, Miller remembers the story of how Relay for Life was started after a doctor walked in memory of his family members for 24 hours straight. It’s an event that is successful not just because of its participants, but because of the dedication of volunteers, she said.
“If one person can make a difference, then a whole bunch of can make a bigger difference,” she said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 31, 2007. Read the original PDF.