Saturday, April 18th, is the date for our annual Relay For Life event. I’m grateful that I could once again participate. It’s really touching to be at a Relay, especially talking with people and hearing the stories of how Cancer has touched their life and the lives of their family and friends. The theme this year is Banding Together For a Cure. Each team decorated their booth using a theme of various bands. I took lots of photos. The quilt that I made was hung on the back of the stage. It really looked great as part of the backdrop, along with the banner that shows that our Relay came in 20th in the State of Florida last year because we raised over $135,500. As of Sunday morning I heard we raised $93,000 so far. Tickets were sold for numerous gift baskets which raised more money. Every booth sold items or food to raise money for their team.
As always, the Committee did an outstanding job and they dedicated many hours of their time to ensure that this event would be fun for everyone and also that money would be raised for the fight against Cancer and the services that our Relay money funds.
There were banners for the survivors to sign. Every survivor traces their handprint and every year that they come back they write the current on their handprint. My mom likes to help out at this area, it gives her a chance to talk with people and share stories. One of the booths was selling paintings by Linda Trotter-Rhodes, I loved seeing her artwork and reading the sayings.
Once again JB’s on the Beach donated the survivor and caregiver dinner. Chef Mike, Manager CJ, and Allen prepared a wonderful dinner which included ribs, chicken, pulled pork, and several side dishes and brownies for dessert. They spent several hours next to the extremely hot charcoal grills cooking the food. I was told that Oceans 234 provided lunch for the volunteers who had been there since early morning, thank you to them too.
Seeing the luminaria bags really is heart touching. Each bag represents either someone who lost their life to Cancer or who survived their battle with it, or who may be dealing with it now.
JB’s Chef Mike’s wife Pauline opened a shop in the Cove Shopping Center, on Hillsboro Blvd., east of Federal Highway, just before the Intracranial Waterway, in Deerfield Beach called The Sticky Bun. Their son Maxwell designed their logo. My mom and I had lunch there on Sunday. This is a nice relaxing environment to enjoy a meal or even just to have coffee and homebaked desserts. We ate a smoked turkey sandwich with bacon, and cranberry aioli on whole grain bread which I think is homemade bread. Mike told us that he smoked the turkey and made the bacon. The sandwich was excellent, and since Mike cooked the meats there are no preservatives in them. Our sandwich was served with a fresh fruit cup, and I was pleasantly surprised as I ate it to find some blackberries in it.
If you get a chance, stop by The Sticky Bun, and most importantly, check to see if there is a Relay For Life event near you and participate in some way.
wow! You made that quilt! You never cease to amaze!!!
What an amazing event!