DAPHNE, Ala. — Thirty-six teams on May 2 will run for funds during the American Cancer Society’s Eastern Shore Relay for Life, but members have already been stretching their legs. Local teams have raised more than $4,837 for the event.

Many team captains said they knew someone with cancer and wanted to help in whatever way they could.

Baker Family

The group of six is led by Betty Baker, who started the team to honor some of her family members with cancer, including her grandson who died of leukemia.

Baker said she also participates in the event because it benefits a good cause. Her group has gained sponsorship from the Daphne United Methodist Church, among others. Members have found other ways to rake in donations by “word of mouth and footwork,” she said. “We’re hitting the streets and trying to get people like that.”

So far, the team has raised more than $1,000.

The Chatty Walkers

The group comprises staff, students and parents from The Neighborhood School on Wilson Avenue. The pre-school’s director, Carriann Toombs, joined the team in 1996. The Chatty Walkers missed the past two years and are back this year.

Their big fundraising event was a children’s art show that offered pieces “for sale” to parents in a gala-style atmosphere, Toombs said. This year the group raised $1,400.

The battle against cancer has hit close to home for the school, Toombs said, adding that after the group’s second year of participation in Relay for Life, a student suddenly died of cancer.

“We love Relay for Life,” she said. “We’ve got parents on our team this year — it’s fun, fun, fun. We even have a plaque up for our little angel.”

She said the key to their success is having one main fundraiser.

“If you do one (fundraiser) and you do it well, the parents jump in and join you,” she said.

Daphne Utilities

This 10-member team has had three fundraising events to aid in cancer research; proceeds have totaled just under $1,087, according to team captain, Tammy Canupp.

Their first event on April 12 was a classic car show at the Eastern Shore Centre in Spanish Fort, where the team provided sodas and popcorn for donations, she said.

On April 19 the group held a yard sale at the Daphne Utilities office on Daphne Avenue. Employees and team members brought old household items for the sale.

Lady Trojans

Coach Denise Grooms of the Daphne High School Lady Trojans wants to encourage more than just athletic excellence in the team’s 10 teens. Rising eighth-graders and high school students are participating in the event.

“The girls are involved in athletics but they need to be involved in the community as well,” she said. “They’re role models. They need to give back.”

She was inspired to start the Relay team when her father was diagnosed with cancer last November, she said.

The teens are participating in individual fundraising instead of a group project.

Mercy Medical

The 15-member group has raised $3,800 for the American Cancer Society and exceeded their $3,000 goal, according to team captain, Kathy Lazzari.

The team has raised funds through a gift basket raffle event and through online donations and personal promotions, she said.

Lazzari has experienced the effects cancer through her godson, who is cured and her husband who is in remission.

“Having experienced and being in a place where you’ve seen so much sadness made me want to do something about it,” she said of her motivation to form the team.

Mission Possible

Dawn Bradley and her husband, Morgan, formed the team after Dawn’s bout with breast cancer two years ago. They’ve raised $850 so far through donations from friends, family and co-workers.

She said that helping to advance the technology of cancer cures also motivated her.

“Cancer strikes everybody. Everybody knows somebody that has been stricken with cancer,” she said. “I have recently lost two people close to me.

“It’s important to find a cure, raise money for research and make new drugs available so people can live longer. We need to do everything that we can to find a cure.”

Other teams participating in the Eastern Shore’s Relay for Life:

<ÜSPS Daphne Office

Relay for Life events will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday at Daphne Middle School with a survivors reception. The opening ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m.; a luminaria ceremony, 10 p.m.; the ‘Fight Back’ ceremony, 11 p.m.; and the closing ceremony at 1 a.m. There will be children’s activities and teen challenges throughout the night. For more information, call 621-7996.

“It’s one night for the Eastern Shore community to come together in the fight against cancer, to celebrate survivors, remember those who have lost the battle and to fight back against the disease,” Carolyn Marston, Relay for Life area director for southwest Alabama, said.