Area cancer survivors will celebrate the strength of their journey at the American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Sullivan with a survivor dinner at 5:30 p.m. on Fri., Aug. 14 at the Sullivan fairgrounds. Any local survivor is encouraged to attend the event.
Relay For Life is open to all area residents. Relay For Life is a family-oriented event where participants camp out and take turns walking or running the track to raise funds to support the programs of the American Cancer Society. This “celebration of life and hope” brings the community together in a unified effort to fight cancer.
The survivor dinner commemorates the lives of hundreds of Sullivan residents who have survived cancer, while offering the hope of finding a cure. Catering, Etc. and Frick’s Market will supply dinner. Septabian Distributing and the local Pepsi bottler will donate beverages. Meramec Nursing Center and the Relay committee will contribute desserts.
Survivors in attendance will also enjoy entertainment by gospel group, Freely Forgiven, at 6 p.m. There will also be prizes and giveaways.
“The survivor dinner is important to celebrate,” said Debbe Campbell, Relay For Life of Sullivan survivor dinner chair. “The camaraderie of it all is special, like watching the survivors sit and visit.”
There are 26 corporate and in-kind sponsors for this year’s Relay For Life. Strauser Drugs will provide the survivor baskets and table settings for the survivor dinner. Watson’s Florist will offer roses for the survivors.
Additional in-kind donations that will help lower costs of the event are coming from: Bank of Sullivan, City of Sullivan, Fidelity Communications and Broadcasting, First State Community Bank, Hysteria Sound, Meramec Valley Eagles Aerie #3781, Play-Mor Coin-Op, Sullivan Municipal Utilities, Sullivan Parks & Recreation and Swinger Sanitation.
“I’d personally like to show appreciation to anyone who has participated and helped with the dinner,” said Campbell. “If it wasn’t for them, we couldn’t accomplish anything.”
Corporate sponsors donated anywhere from $250 to $12,300. Josh Kaufman Foundation is the top corporate sponsor donating $12,300. Gator Boats donated over $5,000.
Other corporate sponsors include: Fidelity Communications  and Broadcasting, Aerofil Technology, BJC Home Health Care, Missouri Baptist Hospital, Wal-Mart, Dace Insurance Agency, Missouri Baptist Hospital Auxiliary, Peoples Bank, West Brothers Chevrolet and West Brothers Chrysler. Several companies were also generous enough to provide in-kind donations.
For more information on the survivor dinner, call Debbe Campbell at (573)-468-3314 or (573) 259-1628.
The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, they fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community.
They save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in ground-breaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight.
As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing more than $3.4 billion, they turn what they know about cancer into what they do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year.
To learn more about them or to get help, call anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.