From the American Cancer Society/Altadena Relay for Life

Cancer survivors and caregivers are heading into the final days of preparation for the fourth annual Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society. The 24-hour event starts Saturday morning, June 9 and ends on Sunday morning.

The relay will be held on the baseball field at Farnsworth Park and will feature a day of entertainment plus welcoming speeches from Assembly member Anthony Portatino and the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich.

The local Altadena relay is surpassing the number of participants and has the goal of raising $40,000 for the 2012 event.

Members of the planning team are intimately aware of the impact that cancer has had on their families and among the 40,000 residents of Altadena.

Rose West, planning chair and owner of a local Curves franchise, acknowledges that the event has bittersweet moments. "Each one of us has been impacted by cancer. There is a luminaria event where we remember those we've lost to a form of the disease. Our goal is to raise money to support cancer research and help fund support services that the American Cancer Society offers to those fighting cancer. Ultimately, we want to do our part in Altadena to create more birthdays."

Figures from the American Cancer Society show there are 165,810 new cases of all forms of cancer in California for 2012 to date.

Local participants include a team from the Ralphs Grocery Store, 2270 N. Lake Avenue and members of the Altadena Community Church, 943 East Altadena Drive where members held a pre-event rally in May.

ADDENDUM: Wednesday, June 6, El Patron Restaurant, 2555 Lake Avenue, is donating 20% of evening sales to Relay for Life.