Vistar Eye Center will send four teams to the American Cancer Society fundraiser, Relay for Life, at Salem High School. The teams will represent four of Vistar’s locations in Roanoke and Salem.

“Gail’s Hopewalkers,” “Sharon’s Hopewalkers,” “Tom’s Hopewalkers” and “Hopewalkers”—a total of about 40 team members— will take to the high school’s track along with hundreds of other cancer survivors and supporters for the overnight event starting Friday, June 20.

Joanne Larson, team captain for “Gail’s Hopewalkers” and a secretary at the Salem Vistar Eye Center, said the company started participating in Relay for Life six years ago with just two teams. Interest has grown since then.

This year the teams will combine to decorate four different campsites at the Relay. The “Hope’s Home” campsite will have a working fireplace, rocking chairs and pictures of team members’ loved ones who have been affected by cancer. And, in keeping with this year’s Relay theme, “Gone Country for a Cure,” the “Hope’s Ranch” campsite will feature a life-size horse, hay, and a saddle. The other two sites will be reserved for food and tent setup.

In preparation for the event, each of the Vistar teams has sponsored a number of fundraisers including bake sales, soup lunches, yard sales and outdoor barbeques. They even sold raffle tickets for a large metal Hokie Bird made by sculptor Ron McNeil.

“Tom’s Hopewalkers” of the South Jefferson St. location tripled their original fundraising goal of $1,000.

“We’ve just done everything we can and we’ve had a really wonderful, supportive workplace,” said Kay Ford, a certified ophthalmic technician who is serving her first year as team captain of “Tom’s Hopewalkers.”

There are two cancer survivors on her team of 21 members—one who battled cervical cancer and one who battled breast cancer.

“We’ve got a lot of reasons to do this because it strikes all of us,” Ford said.

Photo: (Bottom row from left) Dana Gaddy, Christina Sword and Karen Culbertson.
(Top Row) Sissy Reed, V.J. White, Barbara Cabaniss, Robin Tate, Kim Ingwersen, and Kay Ford.
Members not pictured: Chuck Patrick, Vanessa Potter, Cyndi Ferguson, Brenda Robbins, Stephanie Whisman, Carrie Slusser, Cindy Shea, Terry McGuire, Robin Linkous, and Pat Wertz.

Photo contributed by Kay Ford

We had a previous post about Relay for Life on June 10 -- and a photo gallery on May 30 from the Roanoke Valley relay held at Green Hill Park.

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• Posted by ryan jones in Events
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