Relay for Life held over the weekend

Last Friday, June 26th in Fosston the  2015 East Polk County Relay for Life celebrated hope.  There was a large crowd, hundreds of luminaries and lots of things to do.

The evening began with a survivor registration along with a survivor reception inside the Fosston High School gymnasium. Inside the gym, there was also table full of silent auction items, anything and everything was being auctioned off from a signed Minnesota Wild jersey, an American Girl doll, Oofda Tacos sweatshirts and lots of Tupperware. Along with the auction items, the gym was also the location of a photo booth, where for $5 you could have your picture taken with or without a variety of props and take your picture home with you. The proceeds for both the photo booth and the auction went directly to East Polk Relay.

There was an opening ceremony where the Master of Ceremonies, Dick Roue, introduced the 2015 Honorary Chair, cancer survivor, Mike Murray. Dick then called upon Neil Bursheim this year’s survivor speaker, who gave a speech about his trials and triumphs over cancer. 

The Relay team then handed out balloons and flowers, in purple, to the survivors, who released the balloons and walked the track. The sight was amazing as both young and old were represented in the survivor group.

Next came some fun with a frozen t-shirt contest that was hosted by the Essentia Hospital Patient Care team, where a dozen teams tried to be the first to un-thaw a frozen, then cold and wet t-shirt unto a team member. Next was the Grace Lutheran Church team who had Win-E-Mac teacher, Jeremy Morgenroth who promised to shave his head if over $1,500 was raised. Jeremy raised over $2,000 and his wife shaved his head. Congratulations to Jeremy for such a great fundraising effort.

The evening brought the Relay’s Got Talent show, where many talented area residents performed and raised an additional $326 for East Polk County Relay for Life.  Carole Tharaldson won, getting the most money collected in her voting bucket.

Next was honoring those who have survived and those who lost their battle to cancer by the lighting of the luminaries. If was a beautiful sight and those in attendance were able to walk through the lighted path.

Teams taking place in the 2015 East Polk County Relay for Life were First Care Living Center, Essentia Hospital Patient Car, Grace Lutheran Church, Kamp Kenneth, Team Robin and Team Shereck.

There were many sponsors and many volunteers who helped to make this event so successful.

Relay for Life is part of fundraising efforts of the American Cancer Society. A Nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.