Trending
We all know someone who has experienced cancer in some form.
Along with the pain and fear of the unknown that we've come to recognize, we also likely have seen courage, fight and hope stemming from new treatments, drugs and other experimental options increasingly producing new successes in the cancer battle.
While much of the experimentation is occurring in big-city research hospitals and high-tech laboratories, we must never underestimate contributions to that work that originates, in part, from our little hometowns.
For 26 years now, the Warren Relay For Life has been among those hometowns making meaningful contributions to cancer research by capitalizing on the good will, generous donors and gracious hearts of hardworking volunteers. For a good number of those 26 years, Warren's Relay has been the largest Relay in Ohio.
Last year, for example, the event raised $196,000 for cancer research. It all started with the vision of Dr. Robert Brodell in 1994. That year, the event raised $28,000.
Since then, the Warren Relay has raised more than $8 million for the cause.
Of course, Warren isn't the only local Relay where volunteers toil and donors give generously every year.
Others included Niles, Liberty, Cortland, McDonald, Newton Falls and more, including those in neighboring Mahoning County. These communities have combined to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars through day-long festivities celebrating victories and life. Sponsorships for each lap of the non-stop Relay, sales of raffle tickets, T-shirts, hats -- anything, really -- combine to comprise the whopping donation totals.
Certainly, there is no denying the good.
Now, however, we are starting to see a decline in participation and donations. Many of the area Relays have merged. Hours have been cut from the more than 24-hour events to 17- or 12-hour abbreviated events. The number of teams participating in Warren's event has dropped from 60 in peak years to just over 30 nowadays.
Participants, organizers, beneficiaries and outside onlookers are starting to wonder if, like all things, the Relay For Life has run its course in its current format.
Of course, change is always imminent. But that doesn't mean finality to the effort or need. And so planners now are beginning to explore new options. Warren resident Phil O'Hara, who for many years was co-chair of the Warren Relay, told our reporter for a story we published May 19 he predicts the possibility of a unified Trumbull County Relay For Life in the future. That's what Mahoning County has done.
Kaitlin Irgang, staff partner with the American Cancer Society, also expects to see changes in the future.
"Relay For Life can change from being a walk to look more like a concert, a ladies night out or a carnival. It can be whatever the community wants it to be. I can't predict the future for every Relay. It depends what the community wants," Irgang said.
One of the Warren event's organizers, cancer survivor Ken Kramp, said this: "We are looking at different avenues for Relay and what the teams want to do. ... The need for Relay is there, it is just that they may have to evolve and change. They can't be the same as what they were."
He's correct. The Relay can and will continue. Even Tribune Chronicle readers who posted comments to the online version of the May 19 news story were thinking outside the box, kicking around ideas that could give the Relay a whole new look, including possibly seeking more digital or online involvement.
Now it's up to organizers and volunteers to turn the corner in new ways.
Whatever they are, I am confident the drive to grow and help will continue. For certain, the spirit of this community will not allow the successes of the Relay For Life effort to slip away.
blinert@tribtoday.com