March 5, 2008

Willow Glen Relay For Life holds kickoff meeting

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Although the weather was cold and rainy and the wind was howling, a large group of people made it to Willow Glen’s Relay For Life kickoff.

Best Buy (the new store on Curtner) General Manager Richard Scharaga chats with Event Chair Mary Keenan and Luminaria Chair Shirley Fuller. Best Buy is a national sponsor of the event and Scharaga is also sponsoring a team. Other sponsors include Starbucks, which also helps with food and teams.

This year’s Relay, the eighth annual, will take place on May 17-18 at Willow Glen High School’s track from 10 a.m. to 10 a.m. One of San Jose’s oldest Relays, this year’s Willow Glen event promises to be even more fruitful than last year.

Last year’s Relay hosted more than 40 teams, which collected more than $185,000 by early June. This year, 23 teams already had signed up at the time of the kickoff, with nearly $6,100 taken in by Feb. 24.

Each year in communities across the country, American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life allows people to celebrate survivors, remember those that have been lost and to fight against a disease that touches too many lives. Relay and the ACS have a goal toward eliminating cancer as a major health issue. Money raised at the event is used for services within the Willow Glen and San Jose communities.

Doris Schwarz-Lisenbee was one of those attending the kickoff. A 30-year cancer survivor, she had Hodgkins disease. Following treatment, she married and had three sons--one is a student at McGeorge Law School, another works for David Powers and the youngest will graduate from Bellarmine College Preparatory this year.

Schwarz-Lisenbee noted that in a number of cases, survivors can be plagued with after-effects of the treatment. She suffers from lymph edema, which she says is a common condition for people who have been treated for breast cancer. The ACS is also researching how to treat and to eliminate these after-effects, she said.

Doris Schwarz-Lisenbee and her husband Larry Lisenbee attended the kickoff for Willow Glen's eighth annual Relay For Life. Schwarz-Lisenbee is a 30-year survivor of Hodgkins disease. At the kickoff she explained that sometimes survivors can suffer from after-affects of their cures. She is plagued with lymph edema, which causes swelling of her arm and hand.

“The funds go toward finding methods to eliminate cancers, to support groups and also to research studies for those of us that have been cured,” but have some side affects to deal with, she added.

Carol Hogan is the team captain for Dana’s Lifers. This team includes a number of former teachers from Los Alimitos Elementary School in Almaden. Dana Smalley, a former kindergarten teacher at the school started the team during her recovery. She has since passed away, but the team members continue to spend 24 hours at the Willow Glen track both in her memory and to help others survive.

Last year’s All-Star team has graduated and moved off to college, but the team’s work is being taken up by another team of high schoolers, the Brat Pack. The team offers a special gift, they will cover the lawn of your choice with 50-plus pink flamingos for a suggested donation of $20. Those wishing to “gift” their friends can let team members know where and when. The flamingos will appear as if by magic—in the dark of the night—and removed the following night. An additional donation will ensure the donor protection against being flocked.

Gifts are limited to Willow Glen and Rose Garden neighborhoods, but the team can be bribed to other locations if the donation is large enough—and they are able to find their way. To order the flamingos, e-mail to Mary@jackbkeenan.com or phone (408) 448-4658. Or if you prefer snail mail, send it to the Brat Pack Flamingos, 1820 Georgetta Drive, San Jose, 95125.

Mary Keenan hands a Starbucks' gift card to Jeanne Eige, a new participant in this year's Willow Glen Relay. Eige is on the MAPS Team, which stands for Mothers and Princesses.

Two companies have already signed up to sponsor this year’s Relay. One is the Starbuck’s at Meridian and San Carlos and another is Best Buy. Richard Scharaga saw an e-list item about Relay and called his corporate office to let them know he planned to sponsor a team. It turns out the company sponsors Relay nationally, with 50 teams. Scharaga, the general manager at the new Best Buy on Curtner and Monterrey Highway, plans to have at least 10 employees walking with him. Two other area stores, one in Almaden and the other at Santana Row also will send teams to Relay, but not necessarily the one in Willow Glen.

Anyone, or any company, wishing to become a sponsor, should contact Jan Hahn at Janhahn@pacbell.net. For more information, or for online questions, e-mail Felice Lopiccolo at lopicc@pacbell.net. Event questions should be sent to Mary Keenan at Mary@jackbkeenan.com Or to sign up for a team, go to http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeCaliforniaDivision.