Spring Break
Middletown to host Mardi Gras celebration, fund-raiser
Ida Lieszkovszky
Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: Campus
The Middletown branch of Miami University is holding a Mardi Gras themed "Fun-raiser" for Relay for Life, complete with masks, beads and king cake.
The fund-raiser, to take place Jan. 29 to Feb. 5, is sponsored by Campus Individuals Volunteering in the Community (CIVIC).
According to Wanita Hatton, president of CIVIC and a Middletown campus physical facilities employee, the organization-made up of faculty, staff and students from the Middletown campus-is the sole sponsor of the event. This means that all monetary donations come out of member's pockets, she said.
"Everything that we do is donated by individual members and all the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society," said Ruth Orth, co-captain of the CIVIC Relay for Life team and a senior program assistant at Miami University Middletown.
She added that the CIVIC Relay for Life team has won awards for outstanding spirit for seven of the past 10 years.
According to Carol Caudill, administrative assistant for student affairs and vice president of CIVIC, the team raised $5,000 last year for Relay for Life.
"It's a blessing, it really is," Caudill said. "Once you get involved you want to be involved. You can tell it's something we really
care about."
According to Hatton, CIVIC has had a team in Relay for Life for the past 10 years. This year the 18-hour long event will take place June 7-8 at the Middletown high school track.
Hatton added that volunteers are what make the event happen.
"(The volunteers) take lunch hours, personal time and vacation time to run tables and buy supplies," she said.
For Hatton in particular, the event has taken on a new meaning in the past few months, as her husband was diagnosed with cancer in December 2007.
"It makes the relay just a little more special," she said. "I never dreamed Relay for Life would help me. Ten years ago lymphoma was a death sentence-now it's treatable and curable."
It was Hatton who came up with the idea for a Mardi Gras theme after a trip to the southern part of the U.S.
The fund-raiser, to take place Jan. 29 to Feb. 5, is sponsored by Campus Individuals Volunteering in the Community (CIVIC).
According to Wanita Hatton, president of CIVIC and a Middletown campus physical facilities employee, the organization-made up of faculty, staff and students from the Middletown campus-is the sole sponsor of the event. This means that all monetary donations come out of member's pockets, she said.
"Everything that we do is donated by individual members and all the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society," said Ruth Orth, co-captain of the CIVIC Relay for Life team and a senior program assistant at Miami University Middletown.
She added that the CIVIC Relay for Life team has won awards for outstanding spirit for seven of the past 10 years.
According to Carol Caudill, administrative assistant for student affairs and vice president of CIVIC, the team raised $5,000 last year for Relay for Life.
"It's a blessing, it really is," Caudill said. "Once you get involved you want to be involved. You can tell it's something we really
care about."
According to Hatton, CIVIC has had a team in Relay for Life for the past 10 years. This year the 18-hour long event will take place June 7-8 at the Middletown high school track.
Hatton added that volunteers are what make the event happen.
"(The volunteers) take lunch hours, personal time and vacation time to run tables and buy supplies," she said.
For Hatton in particular, the event has taken on a new meaning in the past few months, as her husband was diagnosed with cancer in December 2007.
"It makes the relay just a little more special," she said. "I never dreamed Relay for Life would help me. Ten years ago lymphoma was a death sentence-now it's treatable and curable."
It was Hatton who came up with the idea for a Mardi Gras theme after a trip to the southern part of the U.S.
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