October 6, 2004
Strides against cancer
Tenth Annual Remembrance Run features 280 runners and walkers
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
From good idea at a New Year's Eve party to local institution, the Women's Remembrance Run celebrated ten years this Saturday.
Hosted annually by members of the Traverse City Track Club, 280 runners and walkers completed the one-mile and three-mile courses. Keeping with tradition, male Track Club members in tuxes greeted the women at the finish line with a smile and a carnation.
The event began and ended at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center and the route featured nearly 300 signs memorializing people who have died of cancer.
The run has flowered from a simple discussion among friends wanting to help women with breast cancer.
"A bunch of girls just thought there should be a women's run," said co-founder Judy Yeager of that long-ago party where she and other women friends conceived the idea.
"There were so many people who had friends who had breast cancer and so we wondered if we could do something to help them," she recalled.
Yeager said some of these women worked at Munson Medical Center and thought of a partnership with that organization. The Track Club members approached staff at Munson and the Remembrance Run got its start.
That first year, the women also founded the Women's Cancer Fund to accept the proceeds of the run. The first few years of the run, the proceeds were split with the American Cancer Society but since then all funds raised have stayed in the community and been disbursed by the Women's Cancer Fund.
The Women's Cancer Fund helps women in treatment for cancer with non-medical expenses. These expenses can be anything from wigs and gas money to baby sitting fees, rent and utility bills.
"It doesn't go for treatments but for patients who are going through cancer therapy, we provide the last ditch resort when they've exhausted everything else," said Jane Rolf, breast health services coordinator at Munson Medical Center.
"We've had a couple of people who've been out of work while they've gone through chemo and they have no money," she noted. "They've paid all their bills and bought medication but they still have a mortgage to pay. So we come through."
The Women's Cancer Fund has no overhead. The organization distributes 100 percent of the funds raised by the Remembrance Run and other events, such as the From Women's Hands Art Show.
In 2002, the fund gave out $34,364.50 to 80 women being treated at a facility associated with Munson. These women ranged in age from 17 to 78.
Every year, the Remembrance Run also features a Breast Health Fair. This year, 14 booths distributed information on all aspects of women's health, including osteoporosis, mammography and clinical massage. This year, a booth focused on men's health because organizers realized women often make the health care decisions for their husbands.
A fundraising raffle featured a special quilt made by a member of the Track Club, who incorporated T-shirts from all the previous runs into the design.
Most runners and walkers pinned an 'In Honor of' or 'In Memory of' notice to the back of their shirt, singling out an inspiring women who has had any form of cancer.
Since its founding, the Remembrance Run has evolved into a non-competitive format. Organizers believe all participants are winners just by being there, an aspect that pleases Kim Lautner of Traverse City.
"That's what makes it fun, it is non-competitive," Lautner said. "It's for a good cause and I like running for this."
She is also motivated because cancer and breast cancer affect so many women.
"This disease affects everyone so we all have something at stake," Lautner said.