43
Liberty family goes the distance for Relay
Photo
Jerry McLalin, 15, left and his sister, Taylor, 17, of Hubbard have been participating in the Liberty Relay for Life for years. They and their family will take part this year as well.
Hubbard
The McLalin family has been involved in Liberty’s Relay for Life so long that when they sit in their living room talking about the annual American Cancer Society fundraiser, it seems as if they are discussing memories from Christmases past.
There was the year when Jim, the father, lost his voice rallying the marchers. Or the year he let his hair grow till he could cut off almost four feet of hair to raise money. Then there’s the year it rained so heavily that all of Liberty, it seemed, sold out of wet-weather clothing.
“Three out of every five males are touched by cancer and two out of every five females are touched by cancer,” Jim said, wearing a red Relay for Life T-shirt while his wife, Katie, wore a blue one from another year. “I don’t like those odds. We’ve been blessed that it hasn’t found our immediate family.”
Liberty Relay for Life has become a second family to the married couple. And their devotion to the cause has spilled over to their children: Taylor, 17, and Jerry, 15.
“It’s one thing we all come together for,” Katie said.
Taylor, at 12, started her own Relay for Life team. Team Taylor raises money each year by selling squares of a quilt for a dollar each. With still 16 days to go, her team has raised more than $1,000 this year, and $5,000 since it started in 2008.
“Every penny counts,” is her mantra.
The Relay for Life honored Jerry with the Above and Beyond Award last year after he placed 804 luminarias around the track.
During the award presentation, the honor brought Jerry to tears, something that never happens, Jerry said.
He’s also donned a black dress and straightened his long blond hair, now a shaved head, to help raise money as part of Miss Relay drag beauty contest.
“One year I wore a tutu,” Jerry said. “Anything they ask me to do, I’m there for them.”
Jim and Katie first got involved in Liberty Relay for Life in 2000 after a close friend of theirs was diagnosed with cancer.
Every year since, rain or shine, they walk the quarter-mile track circling Churchill Park. And every year, both children are alongside them.
Five years ago, Taylor told her parents she wanted to start her own team.
“We were proud,” Jim said.
Each May the family prepares for the marathon that is helping to organize Relay for Life in Liberty.
“We all go to bed with thoughts of the funding that was raised,” Katie said of the first night following the event. “That money gives us a peace of mind.”
This year, Liberty Relay for Life will be in Churchill Park from 6 p.m. May 18 to 6 p.m. on May 19, and the McLalins will be there no matter the weather.
“Cancer doesn’t stop for rain,” said Jerry.
“So why should we stop?” Taylor added.