King City successfully hosts first Relay for Life

KING CITY – At San Lorenzo Park, more than 200 people attended the first every Relay for Life event in South County early Saturday morning.

The trees down Broadway in King City were decorated with purple bows in anticipation of Relay for Life that brought together the community and provided awareness, education and raised funds that went toward cancer research and support.

“This event is multifaceted,” said event chair Jennifer Trujillo. “One of the beautiful things is that everyone comes together for remember or honor someone who has passed or still living with it. I think it’s an amazing thing. It’s a support system for people who have suffered. People are remembering together.”

Relay for Life is an event where participants join a team and each team has someone walk on the track for an hour. The event was 24 hours long and started at 9 a.m. Saturday.

“We wanted the town in purple,” said Trujillo. “People asked what is all this purple because we hadn’t had this, even in this community. Next year when they see they purple, they will know the relay is coming.”

There are plans to continue this event next year. This year, the Relay for Life team exceeded all the goals they had for this year.

“We expected to have 10 teams, we had 19. We wanted to have 100 participants and we had 160,” said Trujillo. “We have surpassed every goal. This event will get bigger and better.”

“When we first signed on to do it, I didn’t understand the magnitude of what this event means to people,” said Trujillo. “Once I started doing research and started to figure out what to do and how this event helps people, I was so honored and literally thanked God that I said yes that day.”

Trujillo and the event co-chair Randy Gonzalez were initially approached by Michelle Jones, an American Cancer Society Representative that has helped put together other Relay for Life events around the area. Though intimidating at first, the staff of Hayashi & Wayland were encouraged by Jones and put this on in King City.

“I thank Michelle for believing that I could do it,” said Trujillo. “It’s been an amazing journey. This is the destination, but it’s been a great journey.”

Attendees included Mary and Paul Lewis from Arizona. Mary is a breast cancer survivor and happened to stumble upon the event on their way to San Francisco from Sierra Vista, Arizona

“We found San Lorenzo on Woodall’s,” said Mary. “We called the county park people on the phone and told us the Relay is going on. We though, that’s a plus.”

Last year in May, Mary walked her first Relay for Life in her hometown just two days after her last chemotherapy. She has been cancer free for a year and two months.

For the complete article see the 07-25-2012 issue.

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