Relay for Life 2010

Pink Heat total for the 2010 Relay: $5958.00. How silly do you think I am when I tell you I started with a goal of $700.00? Seriously. I thought $700.00 was an achievable amount for my first year. Then Pink Heat just took off and I made it my passion and mission and here we are today with a whopping $5958.00. I can never express my appreciation enough to those that have helped make this happen, from team members to family and friends to just plain strangers. THANK YOU!!! On Friday, June 11th at 6pm the Relay started. Around 2:30pm my Sis-n-law (who drove 5 1/2hrs to be here) and I arrived to start setting up. My sis-n-law and me:My niece and I:I had worked on painting decorations and putting together signs for weeks before and was so excited to see how it all would come together at the site. I was so excited with the end result! This years theme was 'Stomp Out Cancer' which was a dancing related theme. I chose country western and line dancing as the base of my theme and went from there.

I had a couple wonderful helpers: Tyler Holson and Michael Doran who stayed from 2pm until about 7am. They helped move things around and basically anything that needed done they did it. They also helped out so much with my niece.

One of the big items that needed help moving was the 'County Jail' that my husband built for me. I had seen a 'jail and bail' mentioned in another fundraiser in I believe Kentucky and it gave me the idea that I wanted a 'real' jail cell where I could make this happen. I was not sure how popular it would be but it was so popular we had to send someone out to get more copies of 'warrants' made for arrests! The first arrest was the Sheriff of Charles County! HAHA! He was a good sport. for $2.00 you could issue a warrant for someones arrest and we would go get them and bring them to the jail. They then had to raise or donate $3.00 for their release. The jail was full past midnight. It was awesome!

We have some awesome improvements and ideas for next year for the jail and bail and cannot wait!!!!!

I purchased around 20 Luminarias this year in memory and honor of many people that I, friends, or family knew. So many wonderful families reached out to help us this year and donate that I felt their loved ones should be honored and remembered at this relay.

Several of us stayed through the night and walked (three of us even ran a full lap, wooh out of breath!) and just stayed to support what the cause was about. It was sad to see how many people packed up and left. We stayed till the end and starting getting our stuff packed up around 5:30 before the closing ceremonies. During the closing ceremonies and awards we received a trophy for best campsite-most spirit! I was SO excited about this. It just truly meant a lot. I know it's not a competition but it was so fun to put all that together and display at our campsite and see people loving it. :) I also won for most money raised individually ($3943.00). This was something very special to me because my grandmother had achieved this award before. I love and miss her so much.

Special thanks to everyone in my hometown East Brady, Pa who helped donate and support to make this individual award possible.

Time for our last lap around the track:

Here we are about to head home. It was a sweet moment.

Thank you everyone for making this year a very special year for Pink Heat. As I have said before, words cannot express what each and everyone of you here in MD and PA have done to make this become more than I could ever imagine.

Let the fundraising begin for next year! :)