Seeing the International Falls community come together to support the fight against cancer humbled Ashley Anderson and Kathleen Severson.
The girls, who are both new to the community, participated in Saturday’s fifth annual Community Cancer Walk in honor of their loved ones who lost their battles with cancer.
“My brother died from lymphoma,” said Anderson, who wore lime green, the color designated to bring awareness to the disease. Anderson’s friend, Lacey Richmond and Richmond’s 3-month-old daughter also wore lime green in honor of Anderson’s brother, Derek, who died in 2009.
“It means a lot to me,” Anderson said of participating in the event. “It was hard to watch him go through (cancer). Today I get to wear something in his name.”
Severson wore black, the color of melanoma, which claimed the life of her mother, Michelle, 15 years ago.
“She was only 32 years old when she died,” Severson said of her mother. “I was 7 years old. I miss her everyday.”
All three girls say they plan to continue participating in future Community Cancer Walks and are happy they are able to help other families whose lives are affected by cancer.
“It is definitely something I know I will do again,” Anderson said.
The girls added to the event’s overall turnout, which organizers say mimicked last year’s record numbers.
According to organizer Betsy Loop, about the same number of walkers who attended the event last year, made their way to Bronco Arena Saturday morning to raise funds for free gas cards given to community members who travel out of town for cancer treatments.
“The turn out was about the same number of people (as last year) with a couple more dogs in the mix,” Loop told The Journal.
Money raised by the effort stays in Koochiching County to be used towards gas cards and about $8,600 was raised at the annual event.
“We weren’t sure what kind of turnout we would have due to the difficult time our community is going through right now,” said organizer Wendy Mayer, referring to the loss of 265 jobs at the local Boise Inc. paper mill. “(The community) continues to surprise us with its strong support for our Community Cancer Walk.”
Mayer added fundraising doesn’t stop after the walk and organizers continue to raise funds for gas cards throughout the year.
Nov. 1 begins a new year for the gas card program and people who have gotten gas cards in the past are eligible for a new card. The upcoming program will run through Oct. 31, 2014.
Requests for gas cards should be made to the chemotherapy department at Rainy Lake Medical Center hospital campus at 283-5484.
“We (the committee) are always pleased with the community turnout for this event,” Loop said. “The show of support from all who came and walked and visited, to the people who donated money, (shows) what a great community we live in. I am very proud to be a part of this group. Giving from locals to stay local is very important.”
