Aidan Curtis
THE Mount Gambier Relay For Life Committee is once more calling for as much community involvement as possible to bring the event back after a two-year hiatus.
Committee chair Steve Toope said he wants to revamp the Relay in a completely new way, and the community is vital to putting fresh ideas on the table.
He said he hopes the upcoming Committee meeting brings people out to have their say.
“With the meeting on Sunday, we want to get as many people there because we’re looking to redesign the event and we’ve got to get people’s input,” he said.
“The concept of just the Relay For Life walk, from a lot of people’s point of view, is becoming a bit tired.
“We need to do something else, so we’re looking to make it a lot more of a family atmosphere.”
Mr Toope said he knows people are feeling “puffed, tired and angry” after doing it tough for the last few years, but he believes the local community will still come together.
“Overall, and I’m not just talking Relay For Life here, I find the Mount Gambier community is generous and will support things,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s tough to get people to do things, but you also have to realise the last two years have been a bit extraordinary and tough on people.
“Things have got to get back to normal, we’ve got to start living again and community events are important, we need to have them, and I’m talking across the board.”
While he said he believes no single community event is more important than any others, cancer would have affected most people in the south east in some way.
“I don’t know what the numbers are, but what I use is, for every person that gets diagnosed, there would be over 100 people that get affected,” he said.
“Family, friends, extended family, work colleagues, if they play sport, there’s a whole range of people that get affected.
“I doubt if you went through Mount Gambier or the south east, there wouldn’t be anybody who hasn’t been touched by cancer in one form or another.”
The Relay For Life Committee’s next meeting will be at the Mount Gambier RSL at 2pm on Sunday, October 23.
