Shooting for a cure

It takes a steady hand, an accurate eye and an inner calm to excel at archery. Taking aim at the bull's-eye is the goal, but archers at Washington High School Saturday will be taking aim at a more elusive target - cancer.

Shooting for a cure was the the slogan a parents' group came up with when the Washington arhery program directors - Kathy Stender and Jolleen Cerka - decided to have a fundraiser to benefit local cancer patients.

It is a personal cause for both Stender and Cerka. Stender is currently undergoing treatment, while Cerka beat the disease two years ago.

'We know what is involved and have struggled through the ordeal, so we thought we would try to raise some money,” Cerka said. 'We got the parents together and decided to raise some money and keep it local. We want to get a family from each school that has been affected by cancer, then we will take the funds that are raised and split it between the families.”

Stender and Cerka know from experience that health care coverage doesn't begin to address all the expenses incurred in one's personal cancer battle.

'Even if you have a good insurance, there are still a lot of extra costs associated with cancer and its treatment,” Cerka said. 'There's a lot of extra expenses like parking, pharmaceutical needs and just driving to where you have to go for treatment.”

While Stender undergoes treatment of chemotherapy every couple of weeks and has to be away from her job at the school for a few days, she reduces those times by scheduling treatment on Fridays and then goes back to work on Monday. She has also arranged her treatments around tournament dates.

'She has been lucky enough with the snow that she has been able to schedule things so she doesn't miss anything,” Cerka said.

Concessions money will be contributed to the fundraising effort. All the kids will receive pink T-shirts designed by Emily Jones courtesy of Federation Bank. There will also be bracelets that say 'shooting for the cure” and cards made up for a dollar that one can write ‘in memory of' or ‘survivor of' that will be posted during the tournament.

The archery program at Washington was started seven years ago.

'It has been great to see the numbers grow,” Cerka said. 'You have a whole range of kids that have been exposed to it and become successful at it. So many parents are involved and it's so great to see an elementary kid hit the bull's-eye and the light turns on in there for them. It is just great to see how great they respond.”

There are about 150 kids in the archery program, which makes it one of the biggest programs in the state.

'It says a lot about everyone involved in the program, especially the coaches,” Cerka said.

Saturday's tournament has 17 schools scheduled to compete which means about 600 archers will be there.

'I just hope it doesn't snow and we get a great turnout because it's going to be a great day for a lot of individuals,” Cerka said. 'It is going to be a big day for us, so I hope the weather holds off.”