Valley's first Relay kicks off tonight at YSU

YOUNGSTOWN

The Pink Panthers are just one team of superheroes who were out in full force this year at Mahoning County’s first Relay for Life.

Seventeen teams gathered at Beeghly Center at Youngstown State University today to begin what will be the first of many relays in the area — its theme: superheroes.

They will stay from 6 p.m. until 10 a.m. Saturday morning, walking along the upper deck in the gym — one person from each team had to be walking at all times, said Tristan Codner, event coordinator.

They were also holding fundraisers at stations inside the center. Their goal, Codner said, was to raise $1,000 through pledges and through the fundraisers for programs and services at the American Cancer Society’s Canfield office.

For the Pink Panthers, that goal was in the dust already.

The team, made up largely of senior citizens from Struthers Manor, many of whom are also cancer survivors, had returned for their fourth year of fundraising at the Relay.

Team member Audrey McKnight said the fundraising doesn’t start there, however.

“I worked all year long,” she said, collecting at Struthers Manor. She raised $2,000 there, adding that though the residents don’t have much money, they want to help.

“They come up with handfuls of change,” she said: “‘Here’s all my change I’ve been saving for you...’ they’d do anything to help.”

McKnight said she is a skin cancer survivor, and she lost her husband to cancer when he was 52.

Read more about the event in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.