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Super Rotary Rockets Caught Zooming Around the Track Just after Opening Gun. Shown starting left - Rosemary Regalbuto, Judy Neveau and Kris Andresen Rosemary and Judy left everyone in the dust as they raced around the track 100’s of times throughout the 24 hours ! |
The 2nd Annual 24-Hour,
American Cancer Society Relay for Life took place (July 26 – 27) at
Santa Monica College’s Corsair Field.
There was an opening ceremony, the 9PM Sat. Evening Ceremony and the
Closing Ceremony. All ceremonies included many Rotarians with Judy
Neveau who planned the event; Honorary
Event Chair, Mr. Santa Monica, Nat Trives;
Dr. Piedad Robertson, SMC
President,
and Herb Roney,
SMC Board of Trustees President !
Police Chief James Butts spoke of the Farmer’s Market tragedy
and how our community pulls together.
Our Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, with great spirit,
read a Proclamation which started the event.
At the Sat. Night Ceremony, Piedad
Robertson, Nat Trives
and Herb
Roney gave touching words
which inspired everyone !
Relay for Life is the
American Cancer Society’s yearly big event,
held in 3,000 communities and raising over $200 million nationwide.
Our
Santa Monica
event closed Sunday morning as Piedad announced to cheers,
that the event raised $76,000.
A happy and rousing snake dance / conga line followed with loud music
and Piedad, Nat and Jim Butts leading hundreds of people !
Attend our meeting Friday to hear Dee tell us about our great Rotary Fundraising efforts and how many miles / steps were walked and run.
...Kris Andresen
Click Here for Chairperson Judy's Closing comments
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As Lorraine and Manfred Jossell circled the track, they visited with many of their Rotary and community friends. |
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Erik
Jorgensborg brought fence stakes for our banner and set up his tent,
which was so welcomed by the middle of the night shifts.
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All these smiling faces after hours and hours of walking the track ! Char and Dick Lawrence, Joe Pundyk, Spyros Dellaportas (what was he doing there at midnight ? His shift didn’t start until 5:00 am. !), Prez Dee Menzies, Judy Neveau (who opened the event at 8:00 am. Sat. and was still going strong at 9:00 am the next morning !) Blair Brandenburg who started at 5:00 pm and still smiling at midnight and Iao who was still zooming around the track at 2:00 am, after being there early morning and in the after-noon, bringing all these great photos to us ! |
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9:30 PM, after the Ceremony Marilyn and Paul Leoni, Kris Andresen and our “First Lady of Endurance”, Dee Menzies, who stayed through the night catching only a few ZZZZ’s, but wide awake as dawn broke ! |
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Late
…. Late ….. Late ….. in the Night …. Tish
Tisherman, Marilyn and Paul
Leoni, Iao Katagiri and Kris Andresen.
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This
was the second year that Santa Monica College hosted the American Cancer
Society's "Relay for Life" on Corsair Field. The Relay is a 24-hour
event in support of finding a cure for cancer, held from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9
a.m. Sunday. Corporate, civic, community and college groups formed teams that
raised money and committed to have at least one team-member walking/jogging the
track every minute of the 24-hours. (I think we had a bit of a gap at the
2 a.m. hour, but had staunch night walkers from 12 to 2 a.m. - Iao and Judy -
and 3 to 5 a.m. - Lennart and Rosemary).
By 6 a.m. Dee crawled out of the tent, and Tom Loo showed up to Jog for two
solid hours, impressing us all. Frank Lavac may have come at the very end, but
he and his daughter walked off with raffle prizes at the Closing Ceremonies - as
did Rosemary. Good deeds go rewarded!
Lots of activities: a big opening ceremony, an emotional "Survivors
Lap", a kids' camp with recreational activities, tons of donated food, from
sports drinks and energy bars to pizza and Korean barbecue, and ending with
Troop Two providing a hot pancake breakfast after 6 a.m. on Sunday morning.
There were also big-screen movies and live stage acts and music through-out the
event and a beautiful "Luminaria Walk" after dark, featuring
personalized candles honoring individuals who had battled cancer, survived
cancer or were lost to cancer.
Although the count is not yet final, it is projected that our team raised around
$3,000. That doesn't count the $150 team entry fee which I sponsored, nor any
late contributions still coming in. We should have a final figure in a couple of
weeks. The event so far garnered around $80,000 and still counting.
The Rotarians who participated on the "Rotary Rockets" team were Dee
Menzies, Rosemary Regalbuto, Dick Lawrence, Iao Katagiri, Tish Tisherman,
Blair Brandenburg, Spyros Dellaportas, Shirley Dowling, Tom Loo, Eric
Jorgensborg, Susan Hartenbaum, Joe Pundyk, Tom Larmore, Kris Andresen, Paul
Leoni, Frank Lavac, Lennart Christofferson (from the Sunrise Club), and
myself as the team captain.
Eric Jorgensborg kindly provided us with a tent, camp chairs, an umbrella and
stakes on which to hang the Rotary banner that Kris Andresen brought along.
Coolers of drinks came courtesy of Dee, Kris and Lennart; Judy contributed a
watermelon, and Char Lawrence brought home-made oatmeal cookies. Kris and Iao
brought pin-on team tags identifying us all as "Rotary Rockets" as we
did our scheduled laps through the day and night and into the morning.
Dee and Judy and Rosemary camped out all night - Dee and Judy inside the tent
while Rosemary opted to sleep outside and got thoroughly dew-drenched - but
claimed to love it!
Everyone who came did a great job and took their turns and more. Several
Rotarians brought spouses along to bolster the size of our team and our presence
on the track. Many other Rotarians who couldn't be there also made donations in
support of those who walked.
I hope we will consider doing this again next year: It was an excellent
experience, and almost all of us know someone who has battled cancer and to whom
we can give tribute. Hopefully one day we won't have to have this event or
others like it, because we will have found a way to prevent or cure this awful
disease.
This opportunity was a fine way to provide community service, raise our
visibility and build our member relationships, all at the same time - It's easy
to get to know someone when you spend an hour or more walking around in circles
with them!
P.S. Rotarians who attended in other capacities but were not on the Rotary team:
Piedad Robertson, Nat Trives, Lorraine Jossel, and Clyde Smith.
Web Master's Comments: |
| The above are reasons that make me proud to be a Rotarian. Team members thanks for all of your help on covering this event, you make our committee's job easy! |
