By Racine Guajardo  

Chino– On August 6 starting from 9 a.m. to August 7 at 9 a.m., the Relay for Life event joins together to raise money for the American Cancer Society. The event took place at Ayala Park in Chino in hopes to “Paint the World Purple.”

The American Cancer Society says, “It unites communities across the globe to celebrate people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and take action to finish the fight once and for all.”

About 66 teams were formed with over 1200 participants who attended the event that helped raised over $200,000.  It is a 24 hour event because “cancer never sleeps”.

The booths had a variety of handmade items for sale, games, food, and raffle tickets being

sold to win Sports event tickets, restaurant and fast food gift cards, movie theatre passes, clothing store gift cards, vacation certificate and the grand prize raffle prize was premium tickets to a Dodger game.

Local residents from Chino and nearby cities expressed how much they enjoyed attending the 24 hour event and what it means to them:

Chino resident, Sabrina Walker-Gonzales attended this event and says, “My family thought it was awesome.” Also local Chino resident, Ramona Almendarez says, “My cousin Deb and my mom Grace are both survivors. The reason I

volunteer.”

An Ontario resident, Gloria Duran attends the event in honor of her daughter Espy Duran who is a cancer survivor and says, “The event is such a beautiful thing, we always have fun and love the atmosphere.”

The Relay for Life also encouraged Pokémon Go fanatics to attend saying, “take some laps, collect your PokéStop and hatch your incubating eggs all for a great cause!”

Chino Valley Fire Department’s employee, Angelica Alva, says, “This is Chino Valley Fire’s 4th year participating in the chino Relay for Life. We are proud to be a part of such an amazing cause.”

The City of Chino is the presenting sponsor of the event. However, not only is Linda Abbott an employee of City of Chino, but she has a personal connection for volunteering and says, “I started participating about 8 or 9 years ago after my mom was diagnosed with Colon Cancer in 2007. I was involved a little more but when she was diagnosed in 2008 with breast cancer I participated again. With the encouragement from a close friend I joined the Survivor Committee.  I have been on that committee ever since.”

 

“The survivor committee has a Fashion Show in June and a few restaurant fundraisers prior to the Relay,” added Abbott. “We raise funds to contribute to a nicer Survivor Experience. We are able to purchase medals instead of sashes to put in our swag bags that are given out to all our survivors along with a T-Shirt from the American Cancer Society and other items, which are provided by local vendors like Waste Management. We offer breakfast and dinner provided by Papachinos, also snow cones and desserts are served in our survivor tent.  Everything we offered in the survivor tent is free to all cancer survivors, it is also a nice place to just sit and relax or cool down for a few minutes.  We have volunteers that decorate the tent, run bingo, and register survivors (over 300 survivors that were registered).  Also the Young Marines set up the tables and chairs for us and serve dinner.”

Before the event ended, a closing ceremony celebrated the accomplishment of all those who volunteered to make it a successful event of coming together to also remember the lives lost, and to continue a fight against cancer.

For future participation or if you would like to just attend, you may visit the website at http://www.relayforlife.org.