8th Annual Relay for Life: 'There is No Place Like Yorktown'

Thousands of people packed Jack DeVito Veteran's Memorial Field and Track Friday night for the 8th Annual Yorktown Relay For Life event, which raises money and awareness for the fight against cancer. 

The track was lined with luminaria, paper bags decorated in memory of those lost to the disease, and in tribute to those currently fighting it.

Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace, who is a cancer survivor, told everyone gathered at the track that he knows what the power of prayer did for him when he was going through his ordeal. 

"The prayers of strangers is so, so, so important for you," he said. "And tonight what you do here is, to me, the highest form of prayer. It is the highest form of prayer, giving the way you all do."

The 8th Annual Relay for Life was dedicated to beloved community member Randy Zapakin, who used to volunteer at the town's cancer research event and serve as the Master of Ceremonies. He was killed while walking his dog outside his home last November. 

"This absence of Randy has been a challenge to all of us on the committee and the community as well," said Jane McCarthy, co-chair of Yorktown's Relay for Life committee.

During the opening ceremony Friday night, Jim and Denise Poulin, Mohegan Lake, were recognized for their contributions to Relay for Life. They have been raising money for cancer research for the last 20 years and just celebrated raising a total of $200,000.

Why do you Relay? Tell us in the comments below.