Jones County Relay For Life chairwoman Leslie Poythress reports that the local committee is putting the final touches on its plans for the April 30 event and that the volunteer teams are slightly ahead of last year in money raised.

“We’re almost at $39,000 for what we’ve already collected, and that is ahead of where we were at this time last year,” Poythress said last Friday. “We already have 560 participants listed, and we had just a little over 500 last year at this point, so we’re surpassing what we did.”

Business sponsorships are down a bit, however, so Poythress said she would love for more local businesses to become involved in the closing weeks of this year’s drive to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

“We’re very thankful for all the hard work of our volunteers and the contributions people are making even with the economy the way it has been the last couple of years,” she said. “Last year we didn’t think we were doing so well, but we ended up sixth best in the nation for communities in our population range. We hope everyone keeps working hard the rest of this month and we wind up doing even better this year.”

The local Relay For Life organization raised $173,706 in 2009 for the American Cancer Society, which equated to $6.28 per each person living in Jones County.

This year’s Relay For Life event will be held Friday, April 30, at the Jones County High School track. There will be entertainment, food, fellowship and motivational speakers, plus the annual luminary ceremony in honor of cancer survivors and in memory of cancer victims and the survivors walk.

Mattie Wells third-grade teacher and cancer survivor Debbie Howe, one of the ribbon cutters for last year’s event, will be the speaker at the Relay For Life this year. Ribbon cutters for this year’s event have not been announced yet.

The annual survivors and caregivers dinner to honor those who have battled cancer will be held at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 22, at Gray United Methodist Church.

In all, 42 teams have registered so far to participate in the Relay For Life and are busy collecting donations with a variety of fundraisers around the county, so be sure to take part in their events.

For more information on the Jones County Relay, visit the Web at www.relayforlife.org/jonesga, e-mail Poythress at lespoythress@cox.net or call her at (478) 972-6979.