The Pottstown Relay for Life held last weekend was, as always, an emotional 24 hours for all those involved. These were my words offered to the crowd during the evening luminaria lighting ceremony:

A year ago I was honored during this ceremony for the partnership between The Mercury and the Relay for Life and for our newspaper’s role in supporting this community’s fight.
Tonight, I am returning the favor and honoring all of you for your part in this battle, for your commitment to taking up this challenge.
I know there is not a person here who has not been touched by cancer’s reach.
I know that every one of you – and look around – there are at least 3,000 in this stadium tonight – has lost a loved one, or cared for a friend, or celebrated the survival of someone dear to you.
I know that every one of you – team captains, team members, fundraisers, walkers, Relayers, all of you – have embraced this fight with energy and commitment.
Look around you. Each and every person here tonight is writing the story of Relay, the story that we tell in our newspaper headlines.
In the past few months, we have interviewed and videotaped people who are a part of Relay -- the Voices of Relay. We have recorded the stories of what brings people to this cause, and we, as the storytellers, have been touched time and again by the eloquent courage in your lives.
In the past week, we have written a story each day to highlight some of the fundraising and fundraising results of Relay, and again, we have been struck by just what is going on in this town.
Dr. Aliwadi and the team at the Pottstown Memorial Regional Cancer Center are bringing a new quality of care to the local hospital.
Kelli Wolfel and her students at Barth Elementary School have forged a card-sharing partnership with people in 38 states.
Maddi DeGennaro of the American Cancer Society reminds us that ACS chapters throughout the country are copying the trends started here.
Principal Mitchel Edmunds and 11 teachers at Limerick Elementary School showed us that even being slimed is a treat when the benefit is to help find a cure for cancer.
Tonight is a time to honor you – all of you – for the commitment you bring to this cause.
We know this may be a race without a finish line, but that is not what is most important tonight.
What is important tonight is remembering with love those we have lost, honoring for their courage those who survive and always, always, celebrating the caregivers and committed people sitting next to you, in front of you and behind you for the commitment brought here tonight.
What I see as I look around is an entire community caught up in a cause.
I see people who believe in that cause and who are fighting to erase cancer.
I see a community that has taken up the fight and is not about to let go.
This may be a race without a finish line, but it is a race that we will win because we ran it.
Tonight, here in this place, is an abundance of hope. It is a hope for a cancer-free world, and in that hope, lies the chance that it just might happen.
I see a community awash in the light of that hope.
From this spot, on this podium tonight, the view is absolutely amazing.