Small town, big Relay

Cheering Relay for Life for websiteA jubilant Nancy Salmon (center) announces that the Clayton Relay for Life met its fundraising goal. With her are leadership team members Kathy DeBoever (left) and  Sydney Alcock (right).

The luminarias may be out now, but that doesn’t mean that the light from the 2015 Clayton Relay for Life isn’t still burning bright.

While the 24-hour walk-a-thon to help fund cancer research is significant in communities across the nation, there is something unique that happens here.

What makes Relay for Life of Clayton, which ran Aug. 15 and 16, so successful, so magical, so meaningful and memorable for so many? Why does it have such an overwhelming impact on each participant?

It may not be in strength of numbers, but in the passion of the local participants.

“This awful disease has taken too many lives from me!” says Nancy Salmon, one of the tri-leads for the event.

Clayton is one of the smallest towns in the Bay Area to participate in Relay for Life yet their fundraising dollars are double and even triple that of more affluent and even much larger cities in California.

More than 60 survivors of cancer walked in the Clayton Relay this year. A mere 15 teams participated and about 300 people took on the 24-hour challenge. These are not huge numbers, statistically they may be even less than surrounding communities. Yet Clayton’s Relay raised more than $90,000.

Sydney Alcock and her father Mike Fossan, the other two tri-leads of Clayton’s Relay, have been deeply touched by cancer. Fossan and his wife Susan are both cancer survivors.

Alcock said this year’s Relay would always be special to her. “Everyone could feel the love and support for the survivors, caregivers and those still fighting their battle with cancer.”

When participants say this race is personal, the meaning goes beyond that a family member or friend has fought the cancer battle. The common bond that affects every person who walks in any Relay across the country is magnified in this small town by the impact of recognizing everyone — the survivors who walk, the caregivers and everyone touched by cancer, each with their own personal stories.

When Kate Amos spoke to the crowd, she was speaking to her friends and neighbors. When Terry Newberry brought the crowd together with laughter and music, everyone knew that he will also make the 24-hour journey with them again this year.
So it appears that size just may be the biggest factor in the success of this Relay event —but in the reverse. The uniqueness of Clayton’s Relay is not its strength in numbers, but the strength of the participants.

This event takes place again next year on Aug. 13 and 14.

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