The Greenwood Relay for Life began its 3^rd annual event with Mayor Henderson leading this great cause. The kindness of Mayor Henderson took a lot of heat over publicly stating that the city of Greenwood supported this event. But the event started with an enthusiastic crowd with Mayor Henderson at the front of the pack for the beginning lap.

    With a smaller number of teams and more workload on the teams somehow the event got pulled off, mostly thanks to the dedicated patrons.  To some the event was close to their hearts, and they stayed dedicated to the cause, regardless of the low participants.

   We caught up with Arnie Kaptain and his helper Haley (granddaughter) early Friday morning at the athletic field. Already beginning a very long weekend.

    All Occasion tent was setting up the 40 x 80 foot tent quite impressively. Evans audio & visual was setting up the stage. Another Evans team would appear Saturday morning to set up the sound.

    Penguin Ice was delivering an Ice trailer which they only asked for the ice be paid for.

   The constant view of a 4-wheel buggy was seen bopping around all day. Bill Thompson middle school AD, was the driver, attending to many chores. Chris Sutton passenger & the assistant principal of Greenwood middle school made a very impressive “laborer” driving camping site stakes around the track marking off the camping sites. The really neat thing was he did all the “blue color Labor” in his white shirt & tie.

      Greenwood Middle School deserves special thanks for the donation of the grounds, facilities, and staff helps.

    The Evening of Friday teams was allowed after 4:00 pm to set up their campsite if they wished. And a few took advantage of that time and begin creating their site. Joan & Luann were the first to carry camping gear onto the field & began set-up. But in all fairness Nancy was the actual first camper but she didn’t have her gear yet. So Joan & Luann were the first to “set-up”.

   During the day Mr. Hurly was seen working feverishly on the unused restrooms that were winterized last year. And as Murphy’s law dictates, ”if anything can go wrong it will”. For some reason one of the restrooms would not flush properly. Hurly says these are the only two restrooms in the entire Greenwood school system with the fancy “instant flush” pumps. It just so happens that this one wasn’t instant, or even delayed, it just wouldn’t work. Chris Sutton and the crew decided that they would open one restroom in the school and also make the other “working” restroom “Unisex”. Not a news worthy item you may think? Well you spend 8-10 hours (or all night) on that field and when nature calls see just how important a working restroom is to you!

   The lumunaria count according to Carolynn Hobson Saturday @ 11:00 am was @ 1197. That count would elevate somewhat as the day went along last count we received was near 1400 with about 1 & ½ hour left.

    The fire department had the safety trailer brought in, but with a somewhat lack of planning, the failure to plan properly by the leadership prevented them from setting up, there simply was no space for them.

 Another Fire engine was present but met with the same dilemma, no planned space left. Not going to be deterred, and being quite resilient, the fire department brought in the big guns, Sparky.

   Sparky showed up and got the usual giggles and smiles. Photo opportunities with Sparky were abundant. Again, The Greenwood Fire Department came to the rescue and would not be deterred.

   The Blood Mobile came for the first time this year, with Ashley Rheam Wheeling the 50 ft. monster. Elizabeth Sutton supervisor of the Blood Mobile said she’s used to riding in the big rig with Ashley at the wheel and felt quite safe (most of the time).

   My Dear companion and myself wanted to be the first to donate. So when they opened up we headed through the door. That was a fun experience and we just donated to a very worthy cause.

    The Safari show for the kids did just as big a job of entertaining the adults. The biggest hit was Louie, the alligator. A youngster picker out of the audience assisted because he had “the neatest hat”, and a strong resemblance of a mini Harrison Ford. The MC referred to the youngster as “Harrison”. With a scripted program he played the audience and “Harrison to get the maximum laughs.

   We are not going to start naming those attending or sponsoring, the list is far to long and the likelihood of missing someone is eminent. But one person shined brightly and deserves an honorable mention.

   Steve Collins began running the track at 10:00 am like everyone else. However what he gave was not to be counted in the dollar total, or seen on a fancy sponsors sign. Absolutely no recognition was even considered for him after repeated request for recognition of what he was doing by others.

   Steve Collins was still running, non-stop, on that track for over 8 hours that we know of, and he showed no signs of stopping. He was a dedicated runner with a big heart, and gave his donation from the heart, not his wallet. Steve says, “This is such a great cause that I may not stop all night…I just don’t know. But I am going to run until I have to stop, just as someone would if they were fighting cancer…until I have to stop”.

   Now that better make you humble, or you have absolutely no heart.

    It was asked of the leaders to announce this note worthy donation but, Carly Hammel and Arnie Kaptain apparently felt that this was not worth recognizing if it didn’t have a dollar sign on it. I am really sad to honestly say that I thought this was about people and working for a cure for cancer using any talent you have.

    This is the really a disappointing show of leadership. And as we assembled our notes we found a lot of others examples of poor leadership in this event. So that will be in another article.

    The Charity for working toward a cure for cancer is a great cause. The citizens who participated this year are a little different breed of charity worker than years past. The passion seems to have slipped or dwindled to a lessened degree of willingness to work.

     While you would see some very familiar faces at the event this year, the enthusiasms seem to have diminished. And the team participation count is down this year.

    At the closing ceremony there were only 6 out of 20 “team members” present to represent Greenwood’s teams and appear on stage for recognition. If this is the best support that the actual team members can show, then you can’t really blame others for not participating.

  We heard excuses that Center Groves Event took from Greenwood’s, but that is only a wasted excuse. Center Grove had nothing to do with only six Greenwood Team Members taking the time to participate and especially being around and on stage at the closing ceremony to represent Greenwood.

   Not all teams were so negligent; many were true heartfelt team members and worked very hard. Many people have close ties to the terrible disease cancer, and they were at the event offering support.

   This years totals are not bad but nonetheless disappointing.

-) $49,273.43 total as of closing ceremony

-) 1,525 total Luminaries sold

-) 20 teams

-) 51 registered survivors (33 @ dinner with caregivers)