Mini Relay For Life gets seniors 'walkering, wheeling' for cancer cause
Relay For Life is usually an all-night thing.
It's the type of event where participants head to a track somewhere and walk, walk, walk - doing laps for hours in support of cancer patients and survivors assisted by the American Cancer Society.
But this week in Naperville, Relay For Life got an age-appropriate twist for about 75 senior citizens and their relatives, who joined in the fourth annual Mini Relay For Life at Naperville Senior Center Adult Day Services.
Instead of a 12-hour overnighter, the Mini Relay lasted eight days at participants' leisure, allowing members to walk a few feet or a few laps anytime from June 13 to 20, said Mike Cooper, who co-owns the facility with his wife, Pam.
"The goal that we had was that our members would be able to participate in a community event," Cooper said about the 42 older adults who attend the facility each week for socialization, exercise, activities and lunch during the day. "It's been appreciated by the members because they don't get to give back. They're kind of isolated in their homes."
At the senior center, though, there are programs and games designed to bring back engagement in a community setting. Among these features of the facility, which opened in 2015 at 1504 N. Naper Blvd., Suite 120, is an indoor walking track totaling a distance of 100 feet.
During the eight-day duration of the Mini Relay, Cooper said participants walked 1,261 laps for a total of roughly 25 miles.
But "walk," for this relay, was a relative term.
Participants were "walkering and wheeling" around the track, too, using walkers, canes or wheelchairs for assistance. During the concluding event when families also attended, the population of those walking in the traditional sense increased.
"We had three wheelchairs, a bunch of walkers and a whole bunch of walkees," Cooper said.
The event raised $5,232 - a record amount - and it brought the four-year total to $17,239 donated to the cancer cause.
As he has each year, Cooper concluded the ceremony by turning down the lights and turning the focus to small paper bags containing glow sticks and positive messages or names of loved ones lost to cancer. This year for the first time, he said he read the names of 55 special remembrances submitted by members and their relatives.
"It was really beautiful," Cooper said.
The Mini Relay effort concludes next month when Cooper said participants can join a South DuPage County relay at McCollum Park in Downers Grove, where the names of those to be remembered will be read once again.