McLean County Relay For Life raises over $255,000 during annual Relay For Life

Posted on June 25, 2018
Over 400 registered team members and 400 survives walked on Saturday to raise over $255,000 at The Corn Crib. (Photo courtesy Relay For Life of McLean County/Facebook)

By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – After 24 hours of walking and 54 teams later, McLean County’s Relay For Life raised over $255,000 on Saturday at The Corn Crib counting towards a goal of $305,000.

More than 400 registered team members braced the 24 hour walk around The Corn Crib joining 400 survivors and caregivers and over a thousand others.

Community Development Manager for the American Cancer Society, Kimberly Wright, said it was amazing to see the state of Illinois backing all of the cancer survivors.

“It is incredible to see all of the relay teams, and all of the efforts (that) they do year around to raise money for the American Cancer Society through our Relay For Life movement,” said Wright. “We’re the second largest relay in the state of Illinois, and that means a lot to our teams and participants.”

In the 24 year existence the McLean County Relay For Life has raised over $8.5 M. With the Relay For Life of McLean County fiscal year ending on Aug. 31, Wright added that they are still looking for donations to reach their $305,000 goal.

“We have raised over $255,000 by the end of the event, and we are looking forward to meeting our goal of $305,000. You can donate at www.RelayForLife.org,” Wright said.

A change in venue didn’t stop Relay For Life members and cancer survivors as this was the first year at The Corn Crib. Wright added that The Corn Crib was a wonderful facility to host the annual event.

“It went very well at The Corn Crib,” Wright added. “We had our survivor caregiver dinner up on the concourse right on the main entrance on the north side. We also had a silent auction on the concourse. Down on the field we had all of our Relay For Life teams that camped out over night. We created a track on the outside of the infield, there was a nice long track. It was quite interesting to have a different type of track then what we have been used too.”

With fundraising still ongoing, you can donate at www.RelayForLife.org/McLeanIL or by going to www.RelayForLife.org.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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