As the end of the Relay For Life year comes to a close, the 2012 committee would like to thank all the Logan County Survivors for coming out and allowing us to honor you for your dedication to showing us all that we can beat this terrible disease – cancer. Survivors and those who have lost the fight are the reasons we work hard and gather all night one time a year, so that we can Celebrate More Birthdays, year after year.

We would also like to thank our participating teams, sponsors, businesses and volunteers for all of their hard work and donations to make this another successful year. Over $91,000 has been raised so far in Logan County, with every hard earned penny to benefit our local community.

Teams are still fundraising and turning in money, with hopes of reaching our $117,000 goal. This Friday, August 3rd, the 2012 Relay For Life Committee, with help from our 23 teams this year, is holding a community Sack Lunch Day in efforts to “Bag Cancer”. We will be grilling pork loin sandwiches and serving them with chips and a drink for $5 from 11am-2pm, on the square in front of the Chamber of Commerce. Deliveries can be made to businesses with 5 or more orders. Call 725-7019 to place your orders to be delivered. Also available will be the new American Cancer Society UK and UofL t-shirts for $12, featuring UK “Fight Like a Champion” and UofL “Fight Strong” logos. These will go fast so get your t-shirt at the same time as your meal, including deliveries! Sizes available are adult S-3XL. Other sizes are available through order.

Did you know that if you never get cancer that you have personally benefited from the money that is raised through your local Relay For Life and by the American Cancer Society? The American Cancer Society lobbies insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid to allow everyone the chance for a low cost or free cancer screenings such as mammograms, colonoscopies, prostate screenings and pap smears. Since early detection is the best defense, the American Cancer Society is also dedicated to helping the uninsured receive low or no cost screenings by ensuring access to quality, affordable care for all Americans.

Research is at the heart of the American Cancer Society’s mission. For more than 60 years, the Society has been finding answers that save lives – from changes in lifestyle to new approaches in therapies to improving cancer patients’ quality-of-life. No single nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization in the US has invested more to find the causes and cures of cancer than the American Cancer Society. ACS relentlessly pursues the answers that help understand how to prevent, detect, and treat all cancer types. They combine the world’s best and brightest researchers with the world’s largest, oldest, and most effective community-based anti-cancer organization to put answers into action.

The American Cancer Society also realizes that cancer patients have immediate needs and are dedicated to helping those effected get the help they need. ACS has programs such as transportation grants offered through many health facilities, rides to treatment in many counties with Road to Recovery, wigs, bras and prothesis available at local offices, and many mentoring one on one programs for mental support from survivors. The American Cancer Society has a nationwide database of programs and resources in your area to get the answers and help you need that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Call 1-800-227-2345 anytime to speak to a representative who is ready to help you in any way they can.

Logan County is known for their dedication and love of their fellow man when it comes to supporting those who have fought cancer, are fighting cancer or have fought the good fight and lost. Every penny we raise is pooled together with the next county and the next state so that we can have a bigger resource to help all in need, including our entire county. We can look back on our hard work and know that if we have a family member in another state that gets a cancer diagnosis, we have helped them too. It’s never too late to get involved and make a difference, your involvement will save a life! Find out how you can donate to Logan County Relay For Life or becoming a volunteer by emailing Terrie.Lawson@cancer .org or phoning 270-745-1967.