Rose's Rays of Hope I-II-III

Today's featured team is Rose's Rays of Hope I-II-II. Co-captained by Madeline Borges and Maureen Zemanains, this team has 39 members at the time of this post. Co-captain Madeline answered my call for inputs for this blog. This year's relay is the 7th year that Madeline has participated in relay and her 9th relay as she did two relays in two of those years. Madeline's relay story is intertwined with the story of Rose's Rays of Hope I-II-III. She shared it with me and now I will share it with you. Here is the story as told by Madeline:

Nine years ago Rays of Hope was originated in Santa Clara by two dear friends, Captain Rose Stowell and Co-Captain Henrietta Coates. They had told me what relay was about. I thought it was nice what they were doing, but left that thought hanging. Seven years ago my best friend and two other dear friends were diagnosed with cancer. In the same time frame, one of those friends lost her battle in three months. I was in disbelief. Then I found out that Henrietta was diagnosed with cancer. On the Fourth of July of that year I was at Central Park with some family members and friends when some relay volunteers were passing out flyers about Relay for Life. I read the flyer and looked at my husband and said, "I'm going to form a team and do this at least one time." He looked at me and said "who are you going to get to join your team?" I did not have to answer his question as my family and friends said "we will be on your team". We became Fighting Angels of Hope. After that year Henrietta's health was failing and Rose asked if I would walk Henrietta's hours. Henrietta would be there but was too weak to walk. Yes, I did walk with pride and honor, but she was not there as she had lost her battle with cancer. I joined Rose's team at Campbell. Rose's daughter, Maureen, formed her team and it became Rays of Hope I & II. Three years ago Rose kept telling me they needed a Rays of Hope III and talked me into it. We became Rays of Hope I - II - III. I have never regretted it. A year later Rose lost her battle with cancer. In memory of Rose we renamed our team to Rose's Rays of Hope I - II - III. Rose was an inspiration to all of us and is dearly missed. She gave her all to helping Relay for Life as much as she could! As long as I am able, I will continue to keep Rose's Rays of Hope I - II - III ongoing.

For fundraiser's we use to do Texas Hold'em. This was a lot of fun and profitable, but it is no longer allowed. Now we do a raffle. We pre-sell tickets and sell tickets throughout the day during relay. We have been very successful with this and have had great prizes donated by team members and retailers. Maureen has also hosted fund raisers that have been very profitable and is doing some again this year. Her daughter's softball team is doing some as well.

My tip for incoming teams is that it's important to spread the word about relay and to raise whatever money you can. Most important is to never give up and to keep your teams Fighting for a Cure! My personal accomplishments have been to keep my team going and to continue the fight against cancer. I also wanted to walk the entire 24 hours and this I have accomplished twice, once at Santa Clara's Relay and at once at Campbell's Relay.

This is my story and this is why we Relay for Life!