Eleanor Painter and Sharla Massengale volunteered to lead the company’s Relay for Life team for the 2012 event. They worked hard and the effort was very successful. Here’s their story, and a gallery of photos from the event. – John Pidgeon

With the belief that everyone has been affected by cancer – family member, co-worker, friend, themselves – we took on the challenge to raise money to fight this disease by becoming captains of Relay for Life team at Draper.  This was the third year for Draper to have a Relay team, and we were committed to making it the best yet.  We began our fund raising efforts as early as October with the Draper Goes Pink Week which was the subject of an earlier blog.  The overwhelming response to that week motivated us to continue with monthly fund raisers.  Many of those included food events which are a guaranteed success at Draper!  We also had a food drive near the holidays when departments in the office were challenged to be the first to bring in 100 pounds of food and $100 with the incentive prize of a free lunch.  That was a huge success with 863 pounds being donated to a local food pantry and $500 being raised for the Relay fund.  Our biggest fund raising effort, and definitely the most rewarding monetarily and emotionally, was the company-wide department challenge.  We divided both the plant and the office into teams and their goal was to raise the most money – either by donations or individual fund raisers.  The winning department would be treated to a free lunch – you’re getting the picture here – promise food and they will deliver!! That challenge took on a life of its own.  As the result of that event we signed 156 walkers for what was now known as Team Draper and raised $6500.  The winner of the challenge was the FlexShade Department who raised $1600 with a close second from the team representing the Advertising, HR & IT departments who raised $1300.  It was awesome to see so many getting involved for this great cause and working together as a team.

The weekend of the Relay was like the icing on the cake.  Draper was represented on the track for the entire 24 hours.  We were an easy bunch to spot as we wore with pride our lime green Team Draper T-shirts which had been made possible through the generosity of company management.  Probably the highlight for many of us was the luminaria ceremony and we have included some pictures so you can appreciate the beauty of this ceremony.  It was an exhausting 24 hours, but we had such a sense of achievement – we had met our original goals – to raise money for this important cause and to get as many Draper folks involved as possible.  We had 5 times as much money and 12 times as many walkers as last year!  We are very proud to say that Draper received three out of the five awards presented at the end of the day – Best Team Campsite – Most Luminaria Sold and Highest Fundraising Team – approximately $13,000!

Thanks to everyone who supported our efforts for Team Draper – Relay for Life – 2012!

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