Poway Relay for Life to honor Gwynn family

This year, the Relay for Life event in Poway will have a special meaning.

The event will honor Poway resident and Padres legend Tony Gwynn along with his family. Gwynn died in June from salivary gland cancer. The theme this year will be “Swing for a Cure.”

The event will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 25 and will continue for 24 hours until 9 a.m. Sunday, April 26. It will be held at Lake Poway, 14644 Lake Poway Road.

The guest speaker this year will be San Diego Padres announcer Bob Chandler, who is himself a prostate cancer survivor.

Joe Martin, pastor for The Gathering Place church in Poway, said that Relay for Life Poway will also hopefully have a member of the Gwynn family present, depending on scheduling, and would like to have representation from the Padres as well to possibly throw out a ceremonial first pitch.

Relay for Life is a 24-fundraiser where participants walk around a track for 24 hours in teams. Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society.

Signup is currently open for anyone wishing to participate at www.relayforlife.org/powayca. A total of 15 teams and 129 participants have already raised over $9,500 dollars.

Signing up is free. Registrants can either start their own team, or join an existing team.

Relay for Life Poway is also collecting canned goods, which will be used to secure the luminaria bags during the event. The canned goods will be donated to the Poway High School and Mt. Carmel High School food banks, which are used to help needy families at those schools. The goal this year is to collect 1,000 cans of food. Canned goods collection will begin on Wednesday, April 8. Those interested in finding out more about donating canned goods can contact Tasha Meredith at Tasha.Meredith@Cancer.org.