Janis Rogers is a proud grandmother.  She has two grandchildren that have been involved with Relay For Life every year since they were born.  Hannah (10) and Johnny (7) have been on Janis’ team every year, and they love Relay For Life and love spending the night at Relay.  Johnny had a Relay For Life with his kindergarten class last year.  The event was a mock Relay for the whole class at his school in Charlotte.  In March, Hannah had cut her hair and donated it to Wigs For Kids, and she received a special thank you from the organization.  Hannah and Johnny each have their own personal web pages on their local Relay For Life website.  They have customized their pages with their pictures and they send e-mails to people they know.  “What a lucky cancer survivor I am -- 9 1/2 years ovarian cancer.  I have so much support from my husband and daughter and her lovely family.  It's about a community that takes up the fight,” says Rogers.

Janis Rogers “interviewed” her grandchildren for us and has given us their answers, in their own words.

From Johnny - age 7
I am in First Grade at Providence Springs Elementary School in Charlotte.  My favorite color is purple for Relay For Life.  I have been on my MomMom's Relay For Life Team  for 7 years in Morganton (Burke County) North Carolina because I care about other people and I fight for them.   Some of the things that I have done at Relay For Life are:

  • helped my Pop Pop drive the golf cart to deliver things to teams
  • collect money when kids go on the inflatable
  • give people Relay For Life tattoos for a donation
  • I have lent my wagon for the pig to ride in when we had people kiss a pig at Relay to raise money
  • I had a Relay For Life in my kindergarten class last year to teach my friends about Relay For Life
  • I collected money at my dad's birthday party to give to Relay For Life
  •  I sent e-mail to people to tell them about my website and try to raise more money.

My favorite part of Relay For Life is putting out the luminarias and walking around the track.

A prefect Relay would have prayers for survivors that have cancer and walking around the track for them.  It would be perfect if the weather was good and we raised a lot of money for the American Cancer Society.

The caregiver lap means the most to me because I like to take care of people who have had cancer.

 

The perfect song for the Survivor Lap would be Survivor by Destiny's Child  and the perfect song for luminaria ceremony would be Candle in the Wind.

 

I would like to go to a Relay For Life in Charlotte because that is where I live and I would like to see how it is different than Relay For Life in Morganton.

 

My favorite website is Webkins - Kid's site

 

From Hannah - age 10

This is my 9th Relay.  I turned 10 years old on May 20.  I Relay in Morganton, NC because I am on my Mom Mom's team in Morganton.  I am in 4th grade at Providence Springs Elementary School in Charlotte, NC.  I like to Relay because it is fun, but I also like to help the American Cancer Society raise money to fight cancer.  My team has a yard sale every year, and I like to help with that.   

It is fun to camp out at Relay and be involved in the kids games and to sell stuff to raise money. I also like to walk the Caregiver Lap.  I was only 6 months old when my Mom Mom was diagnosed with cancer.  In December 2006, I had my hair cut and donated it to Wigs For Kids so that they can make wigs for kids who have lost their hair because of cancer.   

A perfect Relay would start with nice weather.  There would be lots of people and lots of donations.  Many people would be walking the track. 

The luminaria service is my favorite part of Relay.  It is pretty and there are good memories and lots of survivors. 

My perfect song for the Survivor Lap would be "I Believe I Can Fly"  and for the Luminaria Ceremony " I'll Be"  by Edwin McCain.

I would like to go to a Relay For Life  in Rhode Island because it is small and unpopulated.  If I could go out of this country, I would go to Zimbabwe, South Africa because I've always wanted to visit Zimbabwe and I would want to help the people there.

 

My favorite websites are American Girl and Food Network.