Luminaries on the Square recognizes cancer impact
Taylor residents participated in an event designed to recognize, honor and remember those impacted by cancer this past weekend.
The New Century Club, in collaboration with Immanuel Lutheran Church, hosted its third annual Luminaries on the Square Friday, April 19, at Heritage Square in Taylor.
The ceremony recognized all aspects of cancer treatment, including the perspective of a caregiver.
Kristi Johnson Pickett, who took care of her father during his fatal battle with cancer, spoke about the lessons she learned while taking care of her relative.
“If you ask anyone who has been a caregiver, they will tell you it is hard,” Johnson-Pickett said.
She said being a caregiver of someone battling cancer brought her greater empathy.
“It is a journey filled with challenges and sacrifices, but it does have immense reward,” she said. “As difficult as that time was, it was one time I would not take back and I would do it all over again.”
Luminaries on the Square was a fundraiser hosted by the New Century Club for the American Cancer Society. People purchased luminaria bags to decorate for their loved ones for $5.
During the luminaria ceremony, the bags had lights in them and a march around the park was led by the longest living cancer survivor.
At one point during the night, Tim Crow, who served as the M/C throughout the event, read a tribute passage called “The Empty Table.”
The reading described a small table with an empty chair, white tablecloth, a single rose in a vase, a pink ribbon on the vase, a lemon, salt, an inverted glass and a candle. Each object symbolizes an aspect of the hardships cancer patients struggle with. A table prepared like the reading was placed in front of the attendees while Crow read.
“But the candle represents the light of hope that lives in the hearts of all of us,” Crow read to conclude the passage. “Hope represented by cancer survivors and the hope for a cure discovered as a result of the detailed work of the medical profession made able through funds generated through events such as the Relay for Life and Luminaries on the Square.”
