Vance comes together for Relay for Life


Survivor Walk
The Survivor Walk, kicking off the Vance County Relay for Life.

Friday and Saturday saw the twelth annual Vance County Relay for Life.

After the singing of the National Anthem and the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance on Friday, cancer survivors took a ceremonial turn around the track at Southern Vance High School’s Raider Stadium donned in purple and white tee-shirts and gold medallions with purple ribbons.

According to Betty Hester, who was in charge of Accounting and Registration for the Relay, as of 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, the event had raised $137,627 for cancer research.

Hester said that the Vance County event would have “a ways to go” to beat the amount of money raised in Granville County.

Donald Ray Matthews, one of the co-chairs of the event, estimated attendance on Friday night at approximately 6,700 people. He estimated that about half of that number would attend by the 2:30 p.m. closing on Saturday afternoon.

Matthews said that the numbers were a little disappointing, but that the event had gone well and that money was still coming in.

“Hopefully we’ll end up with a good event,” Matthews said.

Bryan Renn, the Community Management Director for Vance County of the National Cancer Society, said that this year marks the first year of the Kid’s Walk. He said that it would become a yearly event.

The pages that follow contain slice-of-life photographs of the event.

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