To the editor:

I wanted to share with you and the community the wonderful feeling of accomplishment that I have from my participation in the 2008 South Whidbey Relay for Life.

I had never participated in the event before. I have lost so many family and friends over the past few years to cancer, however, that I felt I should do this in honor of them and to show them I am willing to sacrifice something, even if just my time, to help find a cure.

This year I took on the committee position of Team Development Chair. When I started on the committee it was only four people, and the feedback I was getting when I first started contacting people about forming a team was that maybe we should just drop the event. After all, people said, look at the lack of participation from last year. Only seven teams participated.

So here we are, with two of the four committee members never having been involved in Relay, and we are supposed to overcome this attitude?

I am so proud of this group! That is exactly what we did. We overcame and then some! Under Peter Anderson’s experience and guidance, we ended up with a committee of 11 and six of us were new to Relay. We went from seven teams last year to 20 teams this year. We nearly doubled our income from last year’s $23,500 to nearly $40,000. (We have until the end of July to turn in money, so this is not final).

And best of all, we got hundreds of people out to experience and participate in the event.

The entire committee needs a huge round of applause and thanks. Peter Anderson and Pollie Hogue, our chairs, and our American Cancer Society representative Jennifer Holocker were outstanding leaders. The committee members were Angela Vosburg, Janice Tabbal, Don Lamontange, Maria Reyes, Charlona Sawyer, Mark Mathura, Jamie Hatch, Renee Yankee and myself, Virginia Bloom.

Fundraising events are going on everywhere, and we are all taxed with where to spend our time and money. This event gave me more personal gratification, more of a feeling of having done something really good, than any other. I think the involvement of cancer survivors, people right there showing us that it is worth it to continue with the pursuit that makes the difference.

Last year my sister-in-law died from brain cancer. For Relay her mom flew in from Santa Rosa, and although she herself just went through breast cancer surgery and is still taking chemo, she walked the track carrying her candle, with tears streaming down her face, between my husband and I.

Looking around us I saw similar reactions as folks found their family and friends names on the bags lining the track. This event really means something to people; it affects us all.

At our midnight team captain meeting we had at least six of the teams who said they would be there again next year. Not a bad start!

I’ll be back and so will many of the others, so thank you all for your outstanding work, thanks to all the businesses who sponsored and donated, and thanks to the community for supporting the event and making it happen. Thank you to all my team captains, you’ll be hearing from me!

See you next year!

Virginia Bloom

Team Development Chair

South Whidbey Relay for Life