By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–The Helena Sports Complex recently hosted the annual Relay for Life to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society, and through the relay, donations, T-shirt sales and more the amount of money raised totaled $15,000.

The North Shelby Relay for Life includes the Pelham and Helena areas and the relay on April 24 turned out to be a success with a great turnout.

Relay for Life Community Manager Katherine Talty said that it’s great that $15,000 has been raised, but she also wanted to let people know that they have until the end of August to continue donating to add to that total.

“The amount we have here is right under $15,000 and people still have until Aug. 31 to donate,” said Talty. “Any money turned in between now and Aug. 31 will toward the total.”

This year’s theme for Relay for Life was “give cancer the boot.” Helena Intermediate School sold T-shirts donning the western theme and many of them could be seen the night of the relay.

The weather forecast was not looking very promising the night of the relay, but Talty said they were lucky because the wet weather ended up missing Helena.

“We got really lucky about not having any rain,” said Talty. “We thought about flipping it around and having the relay inside but we had it outside and we didn’t have any rain and everyone seemed to have fun and have a good time.”

This was the first time the city of Helena hosted the North Shelby Relay for Life and Talty said that it turned out to be a great spot and they are already looking forward to next year.

“All of the donations go to cancer research and it’s a great cause,” said Talty.

More information on the North Shelby Relay can be found at Relayforlife.org/northshelbyal.