HOLLISTER
Hollister’s Relay for Life was held this past Friday night and concluded on Saturday afternoon, raising a preliminary amount for cancer research of $115,000 – a decline of about 39 percent from the prior year’s final total.
Relay for Life is an overnight event in which teams walk around the track at Andy Hardin Stadium to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. City Councilman Doug Emerson, who walked for nearly the entire time with fellow Hollister resident David Huboi, said the event was “successful.”
“I think it was a real successful event,” Emerson said. “Given the economy we’re in, the support from this community is tremendous.”
Official fundraising figures are only preliminary at $115,000, according to event Co-Chair Chuck Obeso-Bradley. After talking with one of the finance co-chairs of the event, he said the total money raised is expected to increase between $5,000 and $10,000 by the end of the month when the final numbers are due.
In terms of fundraising, Obeso-Bradley said the organizers were hoping to duplicate somewhere near the $189,000 raised last year.
“We were hoping to get near that number again,” he said. “Obviously, we’d like to raise as much money as possible to fight cancer – every dollar will help.”
The event featured 52 teams officially signed up to participate, but Obeso-Bradley said that number will get bigger because teams with more than 15 people in a group usually are split up.
