Leonard Ray
March 30, 2007
Lady Tigers fall, but LSU baseball, softball teams have successful weekend
April 3, 2007
Teams vie for honors for having the best-dressed booths with a variety of themes, including a past year’s “Cat in the Hat.”
The motto of the event is “One day. One night. One community.” All three of those things come together once a year in communities around the nation in the form of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
On April 28, Terrebonne’s Relay for Life will take place outside the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, beginning at 5 p.m. and lasting until 2 a.m. It is one of 4,800 relays across the nation.
It is hard to imagine that something so big, started so small. In 1985, Dr. Gordy Klatt spent 24 hours walking around a track. He logged 83 miles. Hoping to raise money for his American Cancer Society office, friends paid Klatt $25 to run or walk with him for 30 minutes.
That night, Klatt raised $27,000 to fight cancer.
The purpose of today’s event? “A celebration of survivorship,” said Anne Bates, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society.
Perhaps at no point in the night is the celebration more touching than when all the lights go out, leaving only luminary bags surrounding the track to illuminate the area. “The luminary bags represent a person who has been touched by cancer,” said Bates. “Either in honor of, or in memory of, if they have left this world. At that moment, it allows people to have an opportunity to remember and reflect on a person that they love.”
Still, the celebration, will be just that … a celebration. Following the luminary bags will be a fireworks display
Entertainment includes live music and a deejay, an all night volleyball tournament and cook offs. For kids, there will be a space walk and a rock-climbing wall. “It’s a lot of fun,” said Bates. “It’s kind of like a festival of survivorship.”
Lining the walking track will be tents set up by volunteers — families, businesses … whoever — who will be cooking different types of food, all of which will be judged. “We’ll have judges that will go around and take all the food, and judge who has the best. Lucky them,” joked Bates.
The volunteers inside the tents represent teams of eight to 15 people, with at least one person walking around the track at all times.
Two bands will provide the tunes. Seabrook starts playing at 5:30 p.m., and Southern Cross starts at 9:30 p.m.
Bates said that with a few weeks remaining until the event, volunteers can still sign up to have their own tent. “People have more than enough time to sign up and participate,” she said. “And anybody can participate.”
Throughout the year, Bates said volunteers raise money that goes toward the American Cancer Society, and money raised at the event also goes toward the Society.
In order to participate, Bates said to call (985) 851-4757.
