Relay For Life of the Moshannon Valley, having joined the millionaire club in 2017, hopes to cement its star on the “Walk of Fame” in 2018.
The event leadership team selected “Walk of Fame” as the theme for its annual fundraiser for the American Cancer Society at its kick-off meeting held Oct. 3.
“I came up with the idea while I was watching the original ‘The Magnificent Seven’ earlier this year,” explained Tim Nebgen, chairperson for the ELT for 2018.
“While watching, I wondered why I hadn’t seen more of Steve McQueen’s work, and a quick Google search gave me my answer.”
McQueen died Nov. 7, 1980, of cardiac arrest following a surgical procedure to remove a cancerous tumor from his abdomen.
“It got me to thinking about how many other artists were taken from us too soon by cancer, and the idea for the theme sort of went from there.”
Teams registered for the 2018 event will select a celebrity that has battled cancer and decorate their tent site in memory or in honor of that celebrity.
The intention is to spread awareness to the event’s attendees by having information on the type of cancer the celebrity battled, as well as tools the ACS provides to residents of the Moshannon Valley suffering from the same variety.
Some celebrities already selected include the late Walt Disney, who died of lung cancer in 1966, former 007 star Roger Moore, who died in May after a brief struggle with cancer, and Grease starlet Olivia Newton-John, who revealed earlier this year she is facing breast cancer for the third time.
“I think it’s a theme teams can have a lot of fun flexing their creative muscle with while at the same time using it to get the message out about what all the cancer society is doing to help people afflicted with this disease.”
In previous years, the event has been held the weekend of Father’s Day, but the ELT voted to change that for the coming year.
Relay For Life of the Moshannon Valley 2018 will be held June 23, at Geisinger Medical Center in Philipsburg. The event will remain an 18-hour event with walkers taking the track beginning at 8 a.m.
The ELT retained most of its members from 2017, but there are some vacancies that need to be filled. Diane Kennedy and Ashley Adams, who headed the Survivors & Caregivers and Logistics committees respectively, elected to step down at the conclusion of last year.
The ELT expressed its gratitude to both for their hard work in 2017 and wished them well.
In addition to those two vacancies, there is the Cancer Action Network chairperson position as well as the Team Ambassador and Opening/Closing Ceremony chairperson positions.
Anyone interested in volunteering for one of these positions is encouraged to contact Nebgen at 814-339-6292, 814-592-8823 or tmnebgen@verizon.net.
Team registration is open, and anyone interested in starting a team for Relay For Life of the Moshannon Valley 2018 may register by visiting here.
Anyone experiencing difficulty with the registration process can call 877-957-7848. Additional information about the event will be posted to its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts as it becomes available.