HANALEI — The family of the late Leanne Jordan, who succumbed to cancer three months ago, encountered something unexpected last weekend at the American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Hanalei. As the Colorado woman’s husband and children placed the
HANALEI — The family of the late Leanne Jordan, who succumbed to cancer three months ago, encountered something unexpected last weekend at the American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Hanalei.
As the Colorado woman’s husband and children placed the luminaria bags they had decorated in her honor on the inside of the track at Waioli Park, they found another luminaria someone unknown to them had left in her honor.
So it happens with Relay For Life events, where the expected and unexpected routinely occurs.
This year’s two ACS Relay For Life events, in April in Hanapepe and last weekend in Hanalei, raised funds for research to find cures for cancer, education, advocacy and other purposes.
The events had nautical themes, and at the Relay For Life of Hanalei the USS Diego of the Diego’s Posse team won the award for best-decorated tent.
Cancer survivor Sandy Diego is team captain and co-chair of the Relay For Life of Hanalei. She is also the creative force behind the decorated stage and camp site.
Frani Forde-Denny, who works at the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas and is the other co-chair, was proud to announce the Westin team won the award for best campsite spirit.
There were 19 teams at the Relay For Life of Hanalei, and as of Tuesday they had raised over $20,000 in the fight against cancer, said Millie Curtis, ACS community manager-income development.
She thanked the Hanalei community, the County of Kaua‘i, the mayor, council members who attended, state Reps. Mina Morita and Roland Sagum, Forde-Denny, Diego, the Relay For Life committee, sponsors and donors, all the volunteers, the team captains and all the participants.
“No date has been set yet, but (the Relay For Life of Hanalei) will definitely happen again,” she said.
The event was an “all hands on deck” success, she said, noting the teams and committee made it possible to have a “grand celebration honoring the survivors and caregivers.”
“It was energetic, exciting and emotional altogether,” she said. “Because the community is very welcoming and very supportive, we are able to encourage and empower individuals to fight back against cancer.”
These funds are raised so free services and numerous programs for cancer patients and their families can be offered, she said.
“We all have been touched by cancer in one way or another, closely or distantly,” Curtis said.
The American Cancer Society is a nationwide organization. To learn more, visit www.cancer.org, call 1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345), or visit your local office on the campus of St. Michael & All Angels’ Episcopal Church at Hardy and ‘Umi streets in Lihu‘e.
(Full disclosure: Paul C. Curtis is husband of Millie Curtis, and as such is an ACS volunteer. He has also been team captain of The Garden Island’s Relay For Life team, and in charge of print public relations for the 2009 Relay For Life events, a volunteer position he took on before rejoining the newspaper.)
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
