My name is Vickie Evans. Cathy Sekelsky, Luke VanOver and I chaired the 2016 Relay For Life of Highlands NJ. It was an amazing day. It was our community - YOUR community - coming out to the West Milford High School track, working towards the same goal of putting an end to cancer.
As of the day of this year’s event, we’ve raised more than $56,000. Our fundraising efforts are continuing through the end of August. In this economy, I think that says a lot. It tells me that we, as a whole, are not going to let cancer win. It tells me that we are tired of letting cancer destroy our lives and families. It tells me that we’re going to keep fighting back until cures have been found and until we’re not needed anymore.
So many people helped us stage this event. So many. Again, your kindness overwhelms us. We would be remiss if we didn’t try to thank them all.
A big thank you to our sponsors: The Storage Mall of West Milford; Grasshopper Irish Pub and Restaurant of Newfoundland; Lakeland Bank; Macopin Pizza; Nicolella Photography; Contemporary Pools and Spas and Town Tavern Country Inn.
I’d like to thank Dani Zanoni for donating her vocal talents and singing “The National Anthem.” You did a fabulous job.
Thanks to our survivor speaker, Jessica Ribitzki, who proved to all of those at the event that survivors are real people, from real communities, who have beaten this disease.
Thanks to Kaitlyn Pena for speaking about being a caregiver at such a young age.
Thank you to Paul Gorski and Marilyn Lichtenberg for taking the time out of your busy schedules to help us begin our event.
A big shout out to James Barrett III, the fabulous DJBonz, who kept us rockin’ through the night. He always gets people involved when they think they’re too tired to do anything more!
Thank you to Evan Meola who spent hours making sure our sound system and microphones were working at all times.
The Survivor tent was overseen by Jessica Ribitzki. Thank you to 3 Roads Deli, Grasshopper Irish Pub and Restaurant of Newfoundland and Lilly Pad Flower Shop. The tent looked beautiful and food was great thanks to all of you.
Thank you to Nicolella Photography for donating many hours of your time to take such wonderful pictures at our event. Thank you to Nathan Bedford from WMTV Channel 77 for broadcasting our event and interviewing so many of our survivors and committee. The pictures and videos that you all took have created memories that will last a lifetime.
Thank you to the West Milford Board Of Education Transportation Department for graciously donating a shuttle bus. The bus was driven by Steve Becker, a survivor, who volunteered his time to us for the day. The entire Relay appreciated this service greatly.
Thank you to the Township of West Milford, the Chamber of Commerce and West Milford High School for all your assistance with our event.
A warm thank you to the editors, writers and photographers from our local newspapers who gave us newsworthy and brilliant coverage all year long – AIM West Milford, The Suburban Trends, and The West Milford Messenger and our Publicity Chair Joan Hopper for keeping us in the news.
Thank you to the Band Parent Association for the use of the concession stand. Macopin Pizza ran the concession stand throughout our event and served our Relay excellent food.
Thank you Boy Scout Troop #114 for helping us set-up all the luminary bags around the track. Many hands make less work for everyone.
Water was donated by Home Depot of Riverdale; Wal-Mart of Riverdale; Lowes of Butler, Target of Riverdale, Stop and Shop in Kinnelon and Acme of Oak Ridge. Thank you all very much for keeping us hydrated.
Thank you to Tim Williams with Game Away and Warwick Party Rental for adding to our excitement and activities during the day.
Thanks to Danielle Repola for giving us a burst of energy at midnight with Zumba. The class sure helped many people get through the morning hours.
Thank you to Jennifer Metcalf and Paul Gorski who always help the kids at West Milford High School by facilitating activities and coming up with wonderful ideas to keep students involved.
The Tricky Tray Committee was chaired by Dawn Baker and Debbie Cocilovo. Thank you to Anthony Franco’s, Pizza One of Haskell, Stop and Shop of Wanaque, Thatcher McGhee’s, Asian 1 Chinese Restaurant, Guan Long Chinese Restaurant, West Milford Diner, Town Tavern, Red Lobster, Stegle’s Hardware of West Milford, Blu Alehouse, Khun Thon Thai Restaurant, The Depot, Oasis Diner, Passing Glances, Hand and Stone Massage, Starbucks, Planet Fitness, Dr. Atlas, Mountain Creek, Panera Bread, Shop Rite, Jimmy The Barber, New Focus Haircutters, New Horizons, Paul’s Place, Outback Steakhouse, Valley View Pub, Walt Disney World, NY Jets and the NY Giants. Your donations were extremely generous and made the tricky tray very successful.
A BIG thank you goes out to Tom Gillen, Dan Smith, Dave Spangenberg, Wayne Barrett, Danny Freese, Mike Corter, and Ryan Bowlby and all of the wonderful guys who helped get us up and kept us running.
Thank you to Joseph Trentacosta, athletic director, for helping us out behind the scenes.
Finally, we would like to thank our committee, our American Cancer Society Staff Partner Sarah Greulich for all your hard work and to Tracey Depano, senior manager of the Eastern New Jersey Region at ACS for joining us during our event. To our committee, thank you so much: Joan Hopper, Kathleen List, Kathy DeYoung, Lillian Staats, Dawn Baker, Debbie Cocilovo, Jolene Jurkovic, Leah Ryan, Mikaela Mooney, Gianna Masiero, Christiane Cawley, Amy Larry, Debra Babb, Loretta Heusser, Amanda Lema, Jessica Lento, Jessica Ribitzki, Rebecca Jurkovic, and Gillian Grahame. This event could not have run without you and the hours of dedication you put into it.
So to all of those who volunteered, formed a team, walked all night, fundraised, donated in any way, and/or attended, we send you our heartfelt appreciation. Thank you for making Relay For Life of Highlands NJ what it is. See you all in 2017!
Vickie Evans
Co-chair, 2016 Relay For Life of the Highlands
West Milford
To make a donation to Relay for Life, go to http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY16EA?pg=entry&fr_id=73326.