Group trick-or-treats to help Relay for Life

There?s no trick to this treat. Be on the lookout for unmasked trick-or-treaters this Friday and Saturday.

Fun-loving ghouls and goblins will be five months early this year, but it won?t be to cure a sweet tooth. This weekend, Westwood Church of Christ?s youth group will be spooking throughout McMinnville to raise money to cure something more harmful and devastating than a sweet tooth.

?We will have teams of youth members going door to door in costumes,? said Jesse Garrison, youth intern at Westwood Church of Christ, who is organizing the event with his youth minister, David Womack. ?They will be trick-or-treating for donations to the American Cancer Society.?

According to the National Cancer Institute, 1-in-4 deaths in the United States is due to cancer, and 1-in-3 Americans will eventually develop some form of cancer. Each day 3,400 people in the United States are diagnosed with cancer, and another 1,500 die from the disease.

The money collected will be donated to the fifth annual Relay for Life. The event is scheduled for June 1-2 at Nunley Stadium. The goal for Relay this year is to raise $140,000.

The trick-or-treaters, consisting of 12 volunteers, will be sweeping city neighborhoods over the course of two days. Although they will be trick-or-treating, there will be no tricks so none of the volunteers will be wearing masks.

The American Cancer Society is a nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service.

For more information about the ghoulish fundraiser, contact the church at 473-8434.