Cancer Walk getting back outdoors again

    After no actual walk since before COVID hit, committee members on the Chase County Community Hospital & Clinic’s Cancer Walk committee are excited to get back outside.    
    This year’s All Cancer Color Walk will be held Saturday, Sept. 24, and will start at Imperial’s City Square.
    Jaime Hiett, committee chairperson, said this year’s will be the first one in-person since 2019 when the Cancer Walk headquartered at the Imperial city park.
    This year’s event has a “color” theme, Hiett said, and will recognize all types of cancer. Each cancer type has its own “color,” she noted, so they will be celebrating all of those colors at this year’s walk.
    “Our focus this year is all of the forms of cancer,” she said.
    Colored chalk will be given to each participant, along with a white T-shirt (the latter if preregistered). At the start, each will have their own cup of colored chalk particles to toss up into the air on themselves.
    As they walk or run the 5K route throughout town, there will be three stations where they’ll be doused with colored chalk again, she said.
    Registrations are now being taken, and those registering by Aug. 31 will be guaranteed a T-shirt the day of the walk, Hiett said.
    People will be able to register up until the morning of the walk Sept. 24.
    Registration that day starts at 9 a.m., with the walk/run starting at 9:30 a.m. at City Square, the block between 7th and 8th Streets on Broadway.
    The event will also have food vendors, Hiett said, who’ll be on site from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
    The committee is working on acquiring a speaker to address the crowd that morning.
    Proceeds from the cancer walk help offset costs for patients who are receiving cancer treatments and those who obtain prevention and detection services, Hiett said.
    A raffle is also part of the fundraising, Hiett said, and the prizes include four gift packages—a half side of beef, a flat top grill/griddle with cooler, a 2-day Black Hawk getaway with $100 cash card and two Husker tickets with a $100 cash card.
    Raffle tickets are $10 each, 7 for $50 and 15 for $100 and can be purchased from any cancer walk committee member, or at the clinics in Imperial and Wauneta.
    Besides Hiett, other committee members are Tami Bartels, Shawn Jaeger, Abby Cyboron, Shannon Kuhlmann, Michelle Pursley, Michelle Mandeville, Elizabeth Johnson, Rylie Mintling, Heather Schoenholz, Jennifer Colton, Melissa Larson and Monica McKinney. Stephanie Noyes is also helping with posters and sponsor recruitment.
    Several sponsorships are available at levels from $75 to $1,000. Businesses and others interested can contact Hiett at 308-882-7256 or at JHiett@chasecountyhospital.com.