by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
A roller derby by the “St. Cloud Area Roller Dolls” will kick off a two-date breast-cancer fundraising drive in Sartell.
The Roller Doll teams will include the Wonder Twins vs. the C-Cup Bombers and the Rack Pack vs. the Mammograms.
The roller-derby show will start at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8 at the Bernick’s Pepsi Arena in Sartell. Doors will open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10. Children under 10 will get in free. Tickets can be purchased at the door, at the Electric Fetus and the Skating Place in St. Cloud or online at brownpapertickets.com.
Fifteen percent of the proceeds from every ticket will go to the “American Cancer Stride Walk.”
At the event, there will be balloon launches between roller-derby bouts – balloons that audience members purchase. Those funds will also go for the fight against breast cancer.
The American Cancer Stride Walk will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20 in the Field House on the St. Cloud State University campus. Festivities and entertainment will begin earlier, at 8 a.m. Many Sartell residents will participate in the event, including Shelly Teff, who is the lead dance instructor for the Sartell-St. Stephen Community Education Program. Teff, who is the events chairman of the Central Minnesota American Cancer Society, is coordinating the fundraising events.
Teff said people throughout central Minnesota – and beyond – are organizing teams of walkers, a team being anything from one person to dozens or more. One of the teams will be headed by Cheryl Eichlers, owner of Curves in Sartell. Some of the teams are being organized by the St. Cloud Area
Roller Dolls as part of their ongoing fight against breast cancer.
The morning of the walk, at 8 a.m., the Roller Dolls will give a performance in the Field House.
There is still plenty of time to form teams for the American Cancer Stride Walk. The activity will include a three-mile walk inside the Field House, done in one-mile increments throughout the morning. Participants can warm up before the walk with an energetic Zumba dance session.
Walkers do not have to raise a set amount of money, and there is no registration fee to participate in the event.
All of the money raised from the two events will stay in Minnesota, Teff said. Funds will be given to the “Profits to Feel Better” program, which provides transportation to cancer sufferers who need to travel to chemotherapy. The program also helps pay for mammograms. Some of the proceeds also go to Place of Hope in the Twin Cities, which helps pay for their cancer patients’ lodging if they have to stay in another city during their treatments. And some proceeds will be given to the Mayo Clinic for breast-cancer research.
The St. Cloud Area Roller Dolls, which was founded last year, is a group of area women dedicated to the sport of roller-derbying who often do charity performances. Roller-derbying is one of the fastest-growing activities throughout the world. It consists of teams of roller-skaters speeding around a track in the same direction with players “jamming” one another. The sport combines athletic skills with crowd-pleasing entertainment.
The sport, which began in the 1930s, now has more than 1,200 amateur leagues worldwide.