Record-setting Relay

• Releasing of the butterflies

Eli Jansma, 4, of Sibley, carefully prepares to release his Monarch butterfly from its package as a second one lands on his shirt during Friday night’s opening ceremony of the Nobles County Relay for Life festivities at the fairgrounds in Worthington. Jansma was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and was the youngest cancer survivor attending the Relay. (Brian Korthals/Daily Globe)

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• Gallery: Relay for Life Luminaries 2009
• Gallery: Relay for Life 2009

WORTHINGTON — Nobles County Relay for Life chairwoman Kim Lambert could hardly contain her emotion as, in the 4 o’clock hour Saturday morning, she took the stage in front of the twinkling luminaries to announce this year’s goal had been shattered and a new record set in Nobles County.

With some money yet to come in, the Nobles County Relay collected nearly $93,200 for the American Cancer Society to fund research and find a cure for cancer. This year’s goal, lowered from the previous year, was $65,000.

“I think we just estimated conservatively,” said Lambert. Still, the amount of money raised this year was the most in the Relay’s 13-year history in Nobles County.

Playing a major part in the record-breaker was the Farley’s & Sathers Starlights team from Round Lake, which raised $30,000 toward the Relay. Team co-captain Diane Larson said they have never raised that much before.

“Our biggest one we made (in the last six years the company has had a team) was $18,800,” Larson said in the early morning hours Saturday.

The team was recognized during the Opening Ceremony as a diamond team, collecting well over the $20,000 to put them at that level.

“Our theme this year is ‘Mining for a Cure,’ and while mining for silver, we found diamonds,” wrote Larson in an introduction read by Lambert after their team was introduced. “We set a goal for $12,000 when we first got together and had no idea how we were going to make it.”

Larson said the team’s 13 members began their fundraising efforts last October with jeans days twice a month, theme days, egg bakes, cookie sales, potlucks, hot dog grill-outs and catered meals for the estimated 225 employees who work in the company’s office complex. Earlier this month, the team hosted a golf tournament at the Worthington Country Club, and collected donations for honorary team member Donna Watje to have her head shaved.

On Friday morning, team members had a last minute meeting at Farley’s & Sathers to go over the details for the Relay, when company president Dennis Nemeth walked in and wanted to know how much had been raised.

“He announced Catterton Partners (the owners of Farley’s & Sathers) wanted us to reach $30,000,” said Larson. Catterton’s board members were in Round Lake for a board of directors meeting earlier in the week and saw the thermometer poster tracking how much the team had raised.

“They could tell that we were already over $27,000,” said Larson. Catterton’s check to the Relay, at $2,428, brought them to the $30,000 mark.

“I heard the words, ‘Are you kidding?” and “Are you serious?’” she said of the comments that came from team members after Nemeth’s announcement.

“This is unbelievable — this is amazing,” said Larson. “I think our upper level management played a big role (this year). Their support just helped keep us going and going.”

Larson said the team will have “big shoes to fill,” for next year’s Relay for Life. She co-chairs the team with Traci Scheepstra, and they hope to recruit more members for the team next year.

Of the team members, Larson said one is a cancer survivor. Others are on the team because they have lost family and friends to cancer.

“I think we just have a very compassionate group of employees,” she said. “My dad died of lung cancer, and I’ve been an avid supporter of the Relay.”

Greg Rossow, American Cancer Society community relations representative in southwest Minnesota, said the Farley’s & Sathers team will likely be one of the top fundraising teams in the Midwest Division, which includes all of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

“It’s phenomenal to raise that much money,” Rossow said. “All of the teams did a good job raising money this year.”

As of Friday night, teams had turned in more than $81,000. Corporate sponsorships and the Silent Auction took the total to the $93,200, and with the in-kind sponsorships from Three Eagles Communications, U.S. 104, the Daily Globe and the Nobles County Fairgrounds, it brings the total to $114,300.

Gold teams, those raising $7,500 to $9,999 for this year’s event, were Sanford Health and JBS. The Bonnie’s Walkers team earned a Silver ranking with a total of $5,000 to $7,499 raised, while Bronze teams, earning $2,500 to $4,999, were Avera Worthington Specialty Clinic, Banking on a Cure (First State Bank Southwest), Daily Globe, Power’s Walking for a Cure (the Powers family team), and Prairie Power (Prairie Holdings Group).

This year’s Relay for Life in Nobles County was attended by 110 cancer survivors, hundreds of caregivers and approximately 250 Relay for Life team members — all of whom made for a large crowd that gathered for Opening Ceremony on the west side of the hockey arena on the Nobles County Fairgrounds.

The ceremony was kicked off with Riley Meester of Ellsworth singing the National Anthem, and included talks by the Relay’s honorary co-chairmen Jeff Meyer and Dan Jensen. Both are living examples of why we Relay, said Lambert after the two had addressed the crowd.

One of the most often asked questions she hears is, “When I give my money to the American Cancer Society, where does it go?”

“We have two guys standing here that are proof that it doesn’t matter where that money is going or who is spending it,” she said. “These two guys are proof that (the money) is coming back to all of us.”

Tags: state and region, relay for life, news