August 25, 2006

A walk for life

Evergreen holds second Relay For life

Larger turnout, still intimate feel

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

Evergreen residents held their second annual Relay For Life on Aug. 12-13 at Evergreen Valley High School. The summer Relay grew this year with seven teams participating, but it didn’t lose the homey, comfortable feel that makes it different from other local Relays.

Cancer survivors always lead off the Relay For Life and Evergreen’s was no different. Wearing their purple survivor shirts and carrying the Relay For Life Banner are Charlotte Jacobs, Dorothy Hines, Sandra Surdez, Patricia Mendez and Brianna Mercado. Photos by Carol Rosen

It’s a unique Relay too, in that it brings together people from the Evergreen area with residents from as far away as Morro Bay and Sacramento and as close as Fremont and Pleasanton. In fact, one participating team came from the K.B. Homes office in Pleasanton.

This year’s Evergreen Relay collected $10,000, compared with $6,000 a year ago. Team numbers grew to seven this year, up from four in 2005. Lots of people came looking for a team to join, said Jess Herrera from the American Cancer Society. He noted that while some people didn’t have enough members to form their own team and asked to be placed on a team, others were walk-ins and just wanted to participate to help fund cancer education programs and research.

“Summer is a tough time to plan a Relay, Theresa Neher, Relay chair said, “with school out and people on vacation.” The Relay may be held at a different time next year, she added, although the organizing group is bound by Evergreen Valley High School’s availability. “We are looking at other options,” she noted.

Jessica Gonzales, a senior at Evergreen High, is also president of the school’s key club. “We were asked by our advisor to bring volunteers to the Relay,” she said. “We went to a meeting and it made us so enthusiastic that we signed up as a team and to volunteer.”

Gonzales and 11 other Key Club members participated as volunteers helping put up signs and work on the luminaria, which are decorated bags with candles inside providing incandescent message of hope. Seven of those volunteers walked the track as team Quientus—an online name—during the Relay. The team students, who all were seniors with the exception of sophomore Kevin Lial, included Gonzales, Austin Kuhn, Lalea Eshoo, Jorge Gonzalez, Amy Chew and Bryant Pena.

They were joined by another group of teens from Silver Creek High School. This team included Brianna Mercado, a sophomore (see sidebar, page 22). She currently is undergoing chemotherapy for Ewing’s Sarcoma. This particular cancer typically affects teenagers in their bones and soft tissue. Brianna’s is only in soft tissue.

Evergreen Valley High School’s Key Club fielded a team that called themselves Quientus, which they said is an on-line name. Pictured here are Austin Kuhn, Jessica Gonzales, Kevin Lial, Lalea Eshoo, Jorge Gonzalez, Amy Chew and Bryant Pena. All are seniors except for Lial, who is a sophomore.

The team also included Brianna’s twin sister, Sabrina, and sophomores Karlo Ilgan, Dianel Carbio, Cameron Miller, Katy Nomura and Bernadette Bettencourt. Brianna’s and Sabrina’s mom, Diane Mercado, also was a member of team Pumpkin Heads.

Special thanks went out to the Relay Committee and volunteers. The committee consisted of Neher as chair, Team Captain chair Courtney Gudger, Survivor chair Charlotte Jacobs, Food chair Marina Nolasco, Logistics chair Raj Ramnan, Misson Delivery staff chair, Elizabeth Vargas, Publicity chair Sandra Surdez, Event volunteer co-chairs Cynthia Siu and Christine Wang, and Community contact volunteers co-chairs Cathi Kroener and Tracy Nees.

The survivor lap led off the Relay with Charlotte Jacobs, Sandra Surdez, Dorothy Hines and Patricia Mendez. They were joined by Brittany who is in round four of her chemotherapy. Three of the five are long-term survivors with 12-year-old Mendez leading the way at 11 years, followed by Hines at eight years, Surdez is a four survivor and Jacobs has been cancer-free for one year.

Four live bands performed including the House Band, Rhythm in Motion, Babiarz-Scott Band and Stuck in the 60s Band. Throughout the day people were buying and decorating luminaria as well as playing games and activities. There was a movie and pizza from 10 p.m. to midnight.

Sponsors included the four bands, Joe Santoro from the South Bay School of Music Arts, who donated his sound system, Albertsons, Costco, Megabyte Pizza, Safeway and Togos, the Evergreen Times and KICU as well as Evergreen Valley High School.