The St. Mary's Hospital Relay for Life team. (Submitted photo)
LEONARDTOWN, Md. (June 13, 2009)—The St. Mary's Hospital Relay for Life team raised $9,964.16 in the fight against cancer, surpassing their original goal of $6,000. Out of the 87 registered teams, St. Mary's Hospital came in second place.
Relay for Life of St. Mary's County was held June 6 at Leonardtown High School and is the American Cancer Society's signature activity. Teams of people from all walks of life had fun, camped out and took turns walking while raising much-needed funds to fight cancer and raise awareness of cancer prevention and treatment.
This year's theme was "Favorite Holiday," and the hospital's team chose Valentine's Day. They adopted the catchphrase, "Kiss off cancer." The team raised money that night by selling love trinkets and Hershey Kiss roses and ran a kissing booth with temporary kiss print tattoos.
Hospital team members included Donna Axtell, Gina Cardova (co-captain), John Cardova, Laci Cardova, Makayla Cardova, Tammy Daye, Jeanne Dove, Jennifer Drury (captain), Janet Evans, Valerie Fahey, Joan Gelrud, Barbara Hak, Larry Hak, Tammy Hardesty, John Kees, Jennifer Lynn, Julia Lynn, Jamie Miller, Larry Pankey, Jeannie Tippett, Amanda Werrell, Lori Werrell, Rebecca Werrell, Zachary Werrell and Lydia Wilkinson.
The team coordinated various fundraisers for the past several months, such as a purse sale, yard sale/bake sale, Blue Crabs baseball ticket sales, Blue Angels hat sales and Waiting for a Cure, in which the team waited tables at a pancake breakfast at Applebee's.