Family raises funds year-round for Relay for Life

By Christy Barritt

Correspondent

Jim Simmons will never forget when he was buying ice for a Relay for Life event and a stranger offered to pay as her way of helping with the cause.

If Relay for Life has taught Jim and his family anything, it's that people are generous.

Many would say Simmons and his relatives are the generous ones. For the past four years, they've been working tirelessly to raise money for Relay for Life.

This year, the team raised more than $20,000, which put them in second place for fundraising in Chesapeake.

Raising money to fight the disease and heighten awareness has become the heart of the family's social activities.

The family consists of 80-year-old Wanda McMillan and her four children-Gil McMillan, Richard McMillan, Traci White and Sherry Simmons, wife of Jim- their families and a few friends.

Cancer is something that's touched the family more than once. Jim, a magistrate for Chesapeake, is in remission from skin cancer. Wanda is in remission from colon cancer. Paul McMillan, Wanda's late husband and Team MacAttack's namesake, died of lung cancer in 1998.

"It was so important for us to do something like this because cancer is everywhere," said 58-year-old Sherry, who works as lead secretary at Great Bridge Middle School. "There are so few people who haven't been touched by the disease. It became very important project to us."

The family initially got involved with Relay for Life when Andrew McMillan, grandson to Paul and Wanda and son of Richard, decided to take the project on for his bar mitzvah. Everyone enjoyed the event so much the tradition has continued-and grown.

"Relay for Life has become a part of our family," said Sherry. "We can identify with it in so many ways since our family has been struck by it. It's something important to us."

When the family first became involved, they participated in the event only on the day it happened.

Now, they do fundraisers year round to raise money. They've done everything from a poker tournament to breafasts, to raffles to soliciting corporate sponsorships.

Andrew, a rising junior at Hickory High, said his favorite part of fundraising is at the actual Relay for Life event. He and his father rarely get any sleep, but they said it's worth it.

"The tired we feel is a happy tired," said Andrew, 16. "I didn't realize that until this past year. I'm not just out there to be with my friends. I need to be there to help and that's why I'm there for. At the end, you're tired but you realized you did something good."

Wanda, an Indian River resident, said the fact that her four children and their families are involved for this cause means a lot to her.

"It's just gratifying that the kids still relate to each other," said Wanda. "It keeps the family together and I'm very proud of that. I'm a very lucky lady that they're all in town.

Richard, a financial manager who lives in the Fentress area of Hickory, said Relay for Life has touched him deeply.

"The event is a big party," said Richard. "But walking around and looking at all of the people and realizing why they're there, that's where it really touches me. Until you get out there and walk around that track and see the love that's there, you don't know what Relay is. People ask us why we relay. My question is how can you not relay?"

The family has already started planning their events for next year's Relay.

For more information on Chesapeake's Relay for Life, visit: www.therelayforlife.org and click "Chesapeake."

Christy Barritt, 651-6166, christybarritt@cox.net