AEDC to again participate in Relay for Life

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Plans are already being made for the 2012 Relay for Life, and Commander Col. Michael Brewer has approved Arnold Engineering Development Center's (AEDC) participation in the fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, according to Dee Wolfe, education and training specialist at AEDC and coordinator of the base's involvement in the event.

This year, the Relay will be held May 18-19 at a new location, the Coffee County Administrative Complex in Manchester on Highway 55. The previous events were held at the Coffee County Fairgrounds.

Relay for Life consists of teams of people camping out and taking turns walking or running around a track. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event.

"When I arrived in October 2008, AEDC as a whole didn't know what Relay for Life was all about," Wolfe said. "I told my story of my battle with thyroid cancer and asked AEDC [employees] to come out and support me and the American Cancer Society by joining a team at Relay for Life.

"In 2009, two AEDC teams showed their support and raised more than $6,000. In 2010, AEDC raised more than $10,000, and last year our teams raised almost $8,000 for cancer research."

Wolfe said her life has been touched by cancer since she first told her story at AEDC.

"My Dad found out he had prostate cancer and went through treatment in 2009," she said. "Then in September 2010, I was once again told I had cancer and had surgery to remove it in October. Relay has meant a lot to me and my family since we first got involved in 2007, but each year it comes to mean more as cancer affects my family and me."

Relay starts at 6 p.m. Friday and ends at 6 a.m. Saturday. All team members do not have to be at the event the entire night. Wolfe said there will again be two AEDC teams represented this year: her team, "Remember," and the Department of Defense (DOD) Finance team, "Coins 4 a Cure."

Anyone needing more information about Relay or interested in joining a team may contact Dee Wolfe at dee.wolfe@arnold.af.mil or (931) 454-4313, Shawn Wolfe at shawn.wolfe@arnold.af.mil or (931) 454-7732 or Heather Fair at heather.fair@arnold.af.mil  or (931) 454-4339. Individuals may also register online at www.relayforlife.org/coffeetn.