Koerth participated in the event this year despite rain, and she and her Office Wizard team rallied to raise over $5,000.

Connie Koerth and her Office Wizard team rallied to raise a total of over $5,000 for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life cancer walk, held at the Walt Maki Memorial Field in Wrightstown June 21-22. The team also received second place for their patriotic camp theme and placed second in the volleyball tournament. Pictured here are some of the members from the team. Back row, left to right: Joie Cunningham (with baby Rachael), Carol Matzke, Rick Haessly, Veronica Zorn, Dianne Behnke, Connie Koerth. Front row, left to right: Vicki Mertens, Ellen Mirkos, Liz Haessly, Joe Gajewski, Ann Kaufman.

The event, held annually at the Walt Maki Memorial Field in Wrightstown, features an array of different activities, including a volleyball tournament and a theme-designed contest.

The festivities started at 6 p.m. on Friday June 21 and ran until 9 a.m. the next morning. The opening ceremony featured a husband and wife combo who, according to Koerth, shared an amazing tale.

"The husband had battled testicular cancer and was eventually declared cancer free," Koerth said. "The same day he was cleared, his wife found out that she had breast cancer. It was quite a story."

The most emotional part of the evening was during the luminary ceremony. People had the opportunity to buy a luminary bag and decorate it in honor of a friend or family member who died from the disease or is fighting it at the present.

"Everyone puts them around the track, and they shut off the lights," Koerth said. "The survivors walk a lap and then everyone joins in. It is very emotional because almost everyone knows someone who has cancer, died from it, or beat it. The whole process of the luminary walk is pretty neat."

Every team represented at the event had 15 people, with each individual taking a turn and walking for an hour.

Teams also set up camps, which were indoors this year because of the wet conditions, and designed a particular theme that was critiqued by a panel of judges. Koerth's group had a patriotic theme this year. They were busy making cardboard people and stringing them together while dressing them in red, white, and blue. The group took second place in the event, but Koerth feels they were robbed. "It was the best one there," she said.

While the group may not have come out as the big winners in the contest, they did do their part in raising money for the fight against cancer. The money they raised will go to the American Cancer Society in De Pere, where it will be used to educate, prevent, and find a cure for cancer.

"It is hard work raising the money, but it is all worth it in the end," Koerth said. One man in her group did his job particularly well, raising $1,300 in donations.

This was Koerth's second year participating in the event, and she plans to make it an annual occurrence. The 15-hour night may be a tad long for some, but Koerth was unfazed by it. "It's one night," she said. "You think about what cancer patients go through with chemo and everything, and that's why they have it as an all-night event. Many times patients will get their chemo really early in the morning. If you think it is hard to walk at 3 a.m., that is nothing compared with the people who are going through chemo."