Relay for Life hosts free-will donation lunch and silent auction Sunday

The North Central Montana Relay for Life Committee is hosting a free-will donation spaghetti lunch and silent auction event Sunday at the Havre Eagles Club at noon.

Almost a year after last year’s unexpected cancellation of the Relay for Life event, local volunteers have worked hard to bring the fundraiser back for the Hi-Line community.

Committee member Donna Tilleman said the Relay for Life event is the American Cancer Society’s premier fundraiser, raising millions of dollars every year to support cancer patients and critical cancer research.

“We need to find a cure for cancer,” Tilleman said. “I’m tired of hearing, seeing, reading about people being diagnosed with cancer.”

The spaghetti lunch will include salads, rolls and desserts with all of the money going to the Relay for Life, Tilleman said. She added that she will be making the sauce, for which her parents-in-law, Richard and Vernelia Tilleman, have donated 20 pounds of hamburger. Gary & Leo’s Fresh Foods have also given Relay for Life a discount on the rest of the ingredients needed for the sauce.

“Come have spaghetti,” she said.

Tilleman said that other members of the committee have volunteered to make the other items on the menu, with many of the members making different desserts for the event.

Eagles Club Manager Tom Farnham has also donated the use of the hall at no cost for the event, in addition to the use of the kitchen, Tilleman said. She added that the Hill County Tavern Association made a $100 donation to Relay for Life and a “booze basket” to be raffled off at the lunch.

The booze basket will include five to six bottles of liquor, and tickets for the raffle set at $5.

The event will end at 4 p.m., Tilleman said, with the silent auction ending at 3:30. Some of the items in the silent auction will have minimum bid amounts.

She said she is very grateful to all of the people and businesses which have donated to the silent auction.

“I’m looking forward to seeing people coming out and supporting Relay for Life,” she said.

Tilleman said that the Relay for Life has hosted lunches like the spaghetti lunch in the past but not to this extent. She added that the committee hopes to make the lunch a new tradition for the future.

The committee started planning the lunch in February at their monthly meeting, she said.

She said the Eagles Club will also be hosting a pool tournament at 2 p.m. and competitors are welcome to attend the lunch.

Information on how people can sign up for teams, register as survivors and purchase luminaries which can be bought in memory of or in honor of someone who was diagnosed with cancer, at the lunch.

Tilleman said that the goal of the fundraiser is to raise $1,500 with the lunch and silent auction.

She added that she hopes people are able to come out and attend the lunch.

“Please come and support Relay for Life,” she said.

For more information on the Relay for Life or how to sign up for teams or as survivors contact Tilleman at dltilleman@yahoo.com or 265-6507.