This year, the luminaries stretched all the way around the gazebo in Village Memorial Park, both in honor and in remembrance of those who are battling or have battled cancer.
“It’s getting stronger and stronger every year,” Marty Molinari said of the third annual Luminaria Ceremony held Wednesday, August 2. Molinari is a cancer survivor and advisor of the Churchville-Chili LEO Club. LEO members decorate the paper-bag luminaries and help to set them in place in the park for the ceremony, which draws those from around the community whose lives have been touched by the disease.
Molinari says the Churchville community has been very supportive of the event sponsored by the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. “We want to remember our family and friends,” he said of the significance of the luminaries, “it’s a way to celebrate their lives.”
Laura Carlson, American Cancer Society Community Development Manager, Relay for Life, attended the event and said the Luminaria Ceremony is, “the embodiment of what we are doing … to celebrate, remember and give back … some of the best volunteers I have are right here,” she said of Churchville.
Proceeds from the event are used in the fight against cancer. “The American Cancer Society provides incredible lifesaving information and services to help people navigate through their cancer journey,” Carlson says. “We have several of these programs right here in Rochester, including the Hope Lodge, Patient Navigation, and Road to Recovery, and let us not forget the $8 million in research being used at the University of Rochester Medical Center.”
The Churchville-Chili LEO Relay for Life Team has raised close to $5,000, Carlson said.
Mayor Nancy Steedman said 160 luminary bags were purchased this year, a much larger number than in 2016. “I am so pleased at the participation,” she said. “So many bags are in honor of people who are fighting cancer.”
