A rainy Saturday morning marked the end of the 2009 Relay For
Life, but despite the unpredictable weather, organizers called it
another success in the fight against cancer.

This year’s event was the 15th anniversary of Bradford’s Relay
For Life and the 25th anniversary of the American Cancer Society’s
national event, which aims to draw in money for cancer
research.

When asked Sunday afternoon how the event went, the American
Cancer Society’s Fran Stewart laughed and said, “You mean other
than the downpour yesterday? On Friday, it was beautiful.”

This year’s edition featured 35 teams that joined together to
walk the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford campus in honor of
loved ones who fought or are currently fighting cancer. Proceeds
from the event go to cancer research.

“We felt that it was successful,” Stewart said of the campaign.
This year’s monetary goal was ,96,000, and the organizers believe
that milestone has been reached.

“Right now, we are at ,76,000, but we still have some more money
to come in from teams,” Stewart explained. “Because of the downpour
Saturday, some teams left before they could give us some of the
money.”

In addition to the amount raised, the number of luminarias –
colored bags holding a candle and the name of someone stricken with
cancer – that were sold is also unknown. Organizers did state
Friday that more than 500 luminarias were sold prior to the
event.

The luminarias helped light up the path the survivors and family
members walked on at night. In between, participants stopped to
enjoy various ceremonies and activities, along with an expanded
food court that was possible due to easy electrical access at the
campus.

“The survivor ceremony was just wonderful,” Stewart said. “We
had so many people up there; it was just great.”

“Everyone was telling me that changing it over to
(Pitt-Bradford) was a wonderful thing,” Stewart added. “All of our
teams said they really enjoyed it at Pitt.”

Relay officials will look into the possibility of staging next
year’s event at Pitt-Bradford as well, according to Stewart.