WHAT IS 40/30?

What is 40/30? Well Murray County Friends, it is 40 years ago that Relay For Life began impacting the world. The Global Relay for Life movement started because of one person. In May 1985, Dr. Gordon “Gordy” Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Tacoma, Washington, USA, raising money to help the American Cancer Society with the nation’s biggest health concern: cancer. The ACS has raised $7,000,000,000 (billion) since Relay for Life’s inception in 1985. The American Cancer Society is a leading cancer- fighting organization with a vision to end cancer as we know it for everyone. They are improving the lives of people with cancer and their families as the only organization combating cancer through advocacy, research, and patient support, to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.

Now you ask well what is 30 then? It has been since 1996 that Murray County held its first Relay For Life Team Event. That is 30 years. Wow! In those 30 years we have had 57 different Relay for Life Teams, we have had 68 different honorary chairs that celebrated their cancer journey with us as a community. It is these 68 people that inspire us to finish the fight and find that cancer cure. Because of the money that Murray County has raised, for the calendar year 2023 let’s just look at the services that were provided. 14 Murray County residents were provided with 114 nights of free lodging at Hope Lodges, saving them approx. $18,000. ACS provided 8 transport grants and 2 lodging grants to 10 health systems across MN totaling, $211,000. In MN 2,243 patients reached out to the Relay 24/7/365 helpline when they were seeking support, information and resources, and countless have utilized cancer. org for information to utilize live chats. Nationwide, ACS has awarded 727 grants totaling over $473.22 million as of Feb 2024. We have 13 investigators between Mayo Clinic Rochester and the University of MN/Masonic Cancer center doing lifesaving cancer research working with 11 ACS funded grants totaling $6.46 million right here in MN. Murray County is a part of this amazing picture. According to the MN Dept of Health, Murray County has 610 people living with a history of cancer in our county. That is 7.5% of our population. The county commissioners asked Pastor Dave Mesman the summer of 2003, the year he was honorary chair, “ What comes back to Murray County”? Pastor Dave graciously said “I did”. Those 68 people that have been our honorary chairs in the past 30 years probably feel the same way because of cancer research they came back to Murray County too. They came back to Murray County and their families because of funds raised and research done to help find the best and newest way of treating cancer over the 30 years Murray County has had a Relay.

This year we will be honoring all the past Relay Chairs at our event on August 9th at the Murray County Fairgrounds. We will be contacting past honorary chairs and their families to be our guests at the relay and to help us celebrate the 30-year mark that Murray County has been making a difference.

If you are a cancer survivor and have never been to the Relay, we encourage you to attend. For more information you can contact Linda Tobias at 507-763-3173. If you and your family would like to have a team, contact Janet Voges for more information at 507-2270788 and if you would like to be a corporate sponsor, contact Kim Konkol at 507-227-1434. Being part of this event has rewards beyond your imagination. Making a difference in someone’s life is an amazing experience. Please consider joining us on August 9th.