A local Wall of Hope banner, with thousands of signatures and messages of support from volunteers at the Relay For Life of Franklin County, will be taken to Washington, D.C., for the Celebration on the Hill 2006 this month.

Farmington banner going to Washington

FARMINGTON – Franklin Savings Bank and Jordan Lumber Co. Inc. are co-sponsors of a local Wall of Hope banner, adorned with thousands of signatures and messages of support from volunteers at the Relay For Life of Franklin County, held in June at Mt. Blue High School.

The banner will join approximately 5,000 others from across the U.S. as part of a temporary national monument to cancer patients, survivors and loved ones on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during Celebration on the Hill 2006. The event, hosted by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action NetworkSM, will take place on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 19 and 20.

All over the U.S., Relay For Life event participants were invited to sign banners and write messages to their members of Congress, urging support of an initiative to make cancer funding a national priority.

The banners were created to remind the nation’s lawmakers and policymakers that the decisions they make directly affect people touched by cancer, and that elected officials will be held accountable for making the fight against cancer a nationwide legislative priority.

One banner from each Relay For Life community nationwide – including one from each of the 17 Relay For Life events in Maine – will be used to build a monument at Celebration on the Hill 2006.

The Wall of Hope monument will be the equivalent of four city blocks in size and would span nine miles in length if the banners were placed end to end. At the conclusion of the celebration, each banner will return to its home community, where it will be displayed as a visual reminder that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will always be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated as a major public health threat.

Fifteen individuals chosen to represent Maine will attend the celebration as part of a group of 10,000 ambassadors from all over the U.S. Named earlier in the year by the American Cancer Society, they are community leaders, survivors, caregivers, health professionals, cancer researchers and volunteers.

Two of Maine’s ambassadors are Diane Mitchell of Rumford and Peggy Briggette of Dixfield. Mitchell has lost 21 family members to cancer. Briggette lost her father to chronic myelogenous leukemia in January of 1991.

Mitchell and Briggette will meet with Washington lawmakers to demand that Congress make cancer a national priority by boosting the federal commitment to research and programs. Participants will converge upon the National Mall to share stories about how their lives have been touched by cancer.

For more information, visit www.acscan.org.