A Community Cancer Walk is taking place in International Falls on Saturday.
The event is to raise money for a gas card program available to cancer patients from Koochiching County.
It will take place at Minnesota North – Rainy River Campus, formerly Rainy River Community College.
One of the organizers, Wendy Mayer, says participants can take part for as long as they want.
“You can come with a friend. You could come by yourself. You can walk from 9 to 11. You could walk for as long as you want. There is no scheduled amount of time that you have to walk. All the money goes directly to the gas program in International Falls,” says Mayer.
The walk started about then years ago.
Mayer says the gas card initiative was started to help cancer patients who travel for chemotherapy treatment.
“Anyone who lives in Koochiching County and gets a cancer diagnosis, once they get that treatment plan in place they are given a $300 gas card to help them with transportation costs.”
The program initially provided $25 gift cards. That has since been bumped up to $300.
“Anybody can call the Chemo Department with, “hey, my friend got diagnosed with cancer. Here’s her name. This is the kind of cancer they have,” and they can mail out a gift card. There’s no documentation to fill out. It stays confidential. It’s a great program.”
Mayer says there will also be opportunities for walkers to earn a gas card.
“During the walk, we started a couple of years ago, you could earn a gift to give. They are gas cards, and we give them out to people who are walking. It’s a gift to give so they can give it to anybody. If they have cancer or just someone in need, they can give that gift card to, but you have to be present to receive the gift card.”
Registration begins at 8:45 a.m. Saturday, with the walk inside the college getting underway at 9 a.m.
