The small South Burnett town of Kingaroy has been long preparing for a big event that is set to begin in a couple of weeks.
The South Burnett Relay for Life is back on October 13 at the Kingaroy Show grounds where thousands of people will walk around a track for 18 hours, to celebrate cancer survival and fundraise to fight back against the disease.
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The event began in Australia in 1999, when the Victorian community of Murrumbeena raised over $75,000 for the Cancer Council. Relay For Life is now run in every state and territory, raising over $14 million each year for the cancer fight.
The South Burnett holds the event in a different town each year, with Kingaroy having the honour for 2012. Teams of 10 or more will gather at 5am to set up tents lining the show grounds oval before the relay begins.
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Slideshow: Images from Relay For Life.
Click the link below to see a rundown of the event’s activities. http://www.relayforlife.org.au/
The South Burnett Relay for Life sees an increasing number of participants each year, with this year set to break another record. Each year the event in the South Burnett sees an extraordinary amount raised for the Cancer Council which is around $80,000 - $100,000.
This year the towns hopes to far exceed this amount with teams working harder than ever to raise as much funds as possible.
Participating in the event each year is ‘Birds of Feather’ which is a team of strong elderly women who have all survived cancer and now dedicate their lives to raising money to help find a cure.
Photo:
Relay for Life team, Birds of a Feather.
Vice president of the team, Jan Lamborn sheds some light on how important this event actually is.
Photo:
Birds of a Feather Vice President, Jan Lamborn.
“The most important thing to me is that we raise as much
money as we possibly can for the research for cancer. It won’t happen in my
lifetime, it probably won’t happen in my daughter’s lifetime, but it will
happen in my granddaughter’s lifetime,” she said.
But it doesn’t stop there; Birds of a Feather hold various events and participate in many
meetings throughout the year to help raise the vital funds.
The team hold garage sales, cake sales, ticket raffles
and clay target shoots to help raise money for the Cancer Council. The team
also attend many cancer seminars and travel around the South Burnett to
increase awareness about the disease, the team and how they can help.
Mrs Lamborn says she can already see the difference that
the money raised for this disease has had.
Jan says while the event raises these much needed funds, it is a whole lot of fun.
Each year the Birds
of a Feather team raise approximately $8,000. This year the team hopes
to increase this number and raise as much money as they possibly can.
The South Burnett Relay For
Life Co-ordinator, Jen Davis says the Birds
of a Feather team play a very important role in the region.
Jan says, one of the most emotional parts of the evening
is where everyone unites for the candle lighting ceremony.
“All around the whole of the showgrounds, on the inside
of the showgrounds is candles. I get very emotional when I think about this,” she said.
The people of Relay for Life gather with lit candles in a paper bag with messages written on the front to those who have lost their lives to the disease. These bags are then lined around the edge of the oval lighting the path of the people walking through the night. This is said to be where the people who have lost their lives to the disease come to help and guide the people through the darkness while watching over them.
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Slideshow: Relay for Life candlelighting ceremony.
Ms Davies says the candle lighting ceremony really is the
crux of the event.
“We light a candle for those who have passed, for those
who are fighting and it’s a little bit of hope,” she said.
For more information about the event or to get involved,
click on the link below. http://www.relayforlife.org.au/
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