By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó The first Relay For Life in Kannapolis will begin Friday at 7 p.m. at A.L. Brown High School.
Teams of local residents, including cancer survivors, will walk the schoolís track for 12 hours to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.
Heather Reynolds, event chair, said it had taken four years to get a Relay For Life established in Kannapolis.
Rowan and Cabarrus counties have their own events.
Reynolds said that Kannapolis has enough people whose lives have been touched by cancer to make a hometown Relay For Life successful.
And local residents have been quick to show their support.
ěWe have 29 teams and 470 participants,î Reynolds said.
And, as of Wednesday evening, donations had exceeded the pre-race goal of $20,000.
ěI am on cloud nine right now,î Reynolds said. ěThat just shows that everybody is excited about this.î
Sixty-three cancer survivors will participate in the Kannapolis Relay For Life.
They will be honored during the survivorsí lap, just after the 7 p.m. opening ceremonies.
Relay For Life includes a variety of entertainment and fundraising activities, with proceeds going to benefit the American Cancer Society.
Individual teams will participate in fundraising sales, and there will be live music, food and contests.
But Reynolds said her favorite portion of the event is the luminary ceremony.
Candles are lit to honor those who are battling cancer, and those who have died.
Reynolds lost her father to cancer. Her aunt is a cancer survivor.
Floyd Scott, captain of the team called Heart And Sole, owns Honey-Do Handyman Service in Kannapolis.
This will be his first time participating in a Relay For Life event.
ěA lot of my customers have been touched by cancer,î Scott said.
For more information on the Kannapolis Relay For Life, visit http://main. acsevents.org, and type ěKannapolisî in the ěCityî box to look up the event.
Contact Hugh Fisher via the editorís desk at 704-797-4244.