New location, big goals for Covington-MapleValley-Black Diamond Relay for Life event

Change is the unofficial theme of this year’s Covington-Maple Valley-Black Diamond Relay for Life event.

Lacy Parker, who is co-chair this year with Janet Swisher, said there are a number of reasons for change.

“We decided to go gung-ho and we’re changing a whole lot up,” Parker said. “We want to be bigger, we want the community to know that we’re here. We’re trying to grow our event.”

To begin with, the location has been moved from Tahoma Junior High to Kentwood High, in order for the event to have greater visibility while it’s going on.

And it will be earlier in the summer, too, rather than at the end of June it will be June 2-3 on a Saturday and Sunday instead of Friday-Saturday.

“We’re trying to make it bigger and brighter to show the community that we’re here,” Parker said. “With being at Kentwood we’re going to be more visible.”

Trisha Adams, another volunteer with the Relay, has big goals for this year.

In 2011 there were 26 teams. Adams would like to see 50 participate.

Parker said she and Swisher are aiming for 31 teams. They’re more than halfway there with 21 signed up.

“It’s going to be so much fun watching this grow,” Adams said. “Our community is so giving.”

A year ago, the event raised $58,000, this year the goal is to raise $63,000.

In mid-January the organizers hosted a kick off event at the Greater Maple Valley Community Center to get the word out.

“We’re hitting it way earlier this year,” Adams said. “People are wanting to get involved. It’s time to start giving back.”

Anyone interested in putting a group together to participate should mark 7 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month on the calendar. That’s when team captains meet at Covington MultiCare.

Sponsors for the event at various donation levels are still needed, Parker said, to join Corrie Pollard and CrossFit. Both sponsors have also signed teams up.

“It’s a win-win,” Parker said of sponsoring the event. “You’re supporting an awesome cause, you’re getting advertising with your name on a t-shirt showing that you’re supporting a cause.”

Parker also hopes to generate more youth involvement and was pleased that two more youth teams signed up at the kick off last month. She is working to connect with the right people at area schools to encourage young people to put together teams or even just volunteer.

Relay has become a significant event for Parker, who has been touched by cancer in many ways, and is now in her fifth year of volunteering.

“My husband’s grandfather was dying of prostate cancer,” she said. “Relay, the event, was just a few weeks after. With me working at Fred Meyer, I knew they had a team, so I thought ‘Let’s go check it out.’ Ever since then, I’ve been hooked.”

Last year she sought out additional responsibility.

“About three weeks I after I committed my life away, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer,” Parker said. “I was in stage zero… so, I was extremely fortunate.”

Meanwhile, her co-chair this year was fighting cancer from her hospital bed last year, yet still found a way to be the event’s top fundraiser.

“Her story is amazing,” Parker said of Swisher. “Not only is she a two time survivor, both of her parents passed away from cancer. We all come to do this together for our own reasons and at the same time, they’re all the same reasons.”

Parker pointed to Adams an example of the commitment among the organizing committee members to the event.

“Trisha has hunted down some good help for us who has good connections in the community,” Parker said. “We have some people on our committee who are really passionate, so, that’s helpful. Everyone wants to make this work. They know we can accomplish those goals if we all work together.”

Adams said people want to get involved.

“People in the community want to be a part of that,” she said.