Fundraising goal is $50,000; new activities planned
The 2017 Relay for Life of Greene County, with a theme “Relay for Life – A Game Changer,” will be branded with a colorful logo designed by AAI/Spalding graphic designer Jon Sigler.
The logo was revealed Thursday at a lunch time rally in the courthouse rotunda.
Peg Raney, chair of the Relay’s event leadership team, highlighted new events for the 2017 Relay, planned for April 22 at the Greene County Community Center. The new events are part of a renewed effort to raise more than $50,000 for the American Cancer Society at this year’s event.
In 2016, the Greene County Relay was the 10th highest in per capita fundraising of the 37 Relays in western Iowa. The national average per capita is $.83. The Iowa average per capita is $1.50 Greene County raised $4.64 per capita with a total of more than $43,000.
Four Iowa counties were in the Top 10 nationally in per capita fundraising – Shelby, Carroll, Emmet and Mills. Meeting the goal of $50,000 could potentially put Greene County on that Top 10 list.
“So that’s our goal. We want to raise $6,500 more than last year and see if we can make it on that Top 10 list,” Raney said.
Two new events are joining the Relay and the 5K run/walk has been updated to bolster fundraising.
The 5K run/walk committee has said “good-bye” to the Color Run and instead invites runners and walkers to a Scrabble Run, in keeping with the Game Changer theme. Participants will receive letters at stations along the route. When they return to the Community Center they’ll be challenged to form words from the letters. They’ll receive prizes based on the number of words they can form.
Registration forms for the Scrabble Run are at the Community Center.
At the Community Center, a Ms Relay Pageant will be part of the fun. Businesses, organizations and teams are encouraged to recruit a fun-loving male to compete in a ball gown for the title of Ms Relay. The winner will be the contestant with the most votes, and in the spirit of Relay, the votes will be dollars. Contestants and teams are welcome to start collecting votes before the pageant, and votes will be collected during and after the pageant.
“We’re looking for outgoing gentlemen to strut their stuff for a good cause and prepare their best pageant wave for the event,” Raney said.
Finally, the event leadership team is holding a 50/50 cash raffle. Tickets will be available from team members later this week until the drawing is held at the Relay.
Also at the logo reveal/rally, Raney thanked sponsors, team members, the event leadership team and supportive families and friends of those who have been affected by cancer.
She named cash and in-kind sponsors as follows:
Platinum sponsors, $1,250 – Jefferson Kiwanis Club, American Athletic Inc./Spalding
Gold sponsors, $1,000 – Jefferson Telecom, Raccoon Valley Radio
Silver sponsors, $500 – A & W Family Restaurant, Farmers Mutual Insurance Assn. Fareway, Inc, Greene County Community Center, Greene County Medical Center, GreeneCountyNewsOnline, Home State Bank, HyVee, Inc, Jefferson Bee & Herald, Neese, Inc, Peoples Trust & Savings Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, and Wild Rose Jefferson.
Sponsorships at the bronze ($250) and Hour of Hope ($100) levels are still coming in and will be announced at the Relay.
Funds raised at Relays for Life around the country are used for patient services, advocacy, and cancer research. The ACS is currently funding $1,165,000 in research being done in Iowa.
For more information about the Greene County Relay for Life visit the Relay’s Facebook page, website at www.relayforlife.org, or call Raney at 515-386-2797.
