With more than $130,000 raised prior to the actual 24-hour Relay For Life this past weekend at John Thurman Field in Modesto, the 2023 event surpassed its $150,000 fundraising goal.
By the time the closing ceremony was staged on Sunday, teams involved in the American Cancer Society’s signature fundraiser had gone over $161,000, with more donations still anticipated. At press time, the total had surpassed $166,000.
The combined Relay, which brought together Modesto, Oakdale and Turlock Relays, also draws in participants from some San Joaquin County communities and is classified as the Relay For Life of Greater Stanislaus County. This year was the third year for the larger, combined event.
All the activities were at John Thurman Field, home of the Modesto Nuts, and began with a breakfast on Saturday morning, Sept. 30 followed by the official Opening Ceremony at 9 a.m.
The Escalon American Legion Post 263 color guard was on hand to present the colors to open the ceremony.
Guest speaker Tonia Reyes offered some statistics and noted the many family members and friends she has seen battle the disease. Among them, her daughter Faith, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in elementary school. Faith and her twin sister Destiny did not attend the Relay; as Tonia explained, they were both at a cross country training camp for Escalon High School, where they are seniors this year.
She read a letter she wrote to Faith, sharing the ups and downs of their journey through cancer, what they learned as a family and how going through cancer changes everyone.
“We also celebrate our survivors and acknowledge their strength and courage, shared in the fight against cancer,” Reyes said, adding that the love and support of her husband Sal and daughter Destiny were crucial as the family together moved through the cancer journey with Faith.
Several dozen teams, featuring hundreds of participants, were on hand for the 24-hour event and participated in theme laps, were treated to several bands performing, had the chance to compete in a number of fun contests, and enjoyed viewing classic cars brought in to the concourse for the day, displayed by local car clubs.
Escalon resident Pam Suniga was a member of the MLB team, from Ripon, and said she was glad to take part in the ACS event, pointing to her team captain Kim Kauffman as being a cancer survivor and wanting to support her.
“My sister-in-law just passed away from cancer so I’m here representing her as well,” Suniga said.
Teammate Vi Sikkema, from Ripon, said the event is a worthwhile cause.
“I have a lot of cancer survivors from past years so it’s just the right thing to do,” Sikkema said.
Theme for this year’s Relay was Strike Out Cancer, and the midnight movie shown was The Sandlot.
There was the festive Ms. Relay contest, a Road to Recovery race with cardboard cars, Bingo games, special gifts and activities for survivors, as well as an overnight poker lap, a Scrabble lap, a newspaper fashion show at 5 a.m., and karaoke at 6 a.m.
The closing ceremony at 9 a.m. featured recognition for the overall top fundraising team, ConAgra of Oakdale, which also served as presenting sponsor this year. The team participation award went to Meet The Flockers and the team spirit award to Breathless No More.
