Relaying it forward

With $5 in his pocket slated for nothing else but to do something good, third-grader Matthew Davis decided to donate it to a cause that has touched him and those around him — cancer.

The 10-year-old gave his money to the Huntington Beach Relay for Life and inspired one of his friends to do the same.

Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature fundraiser.

Cities across the nation hold their own event every year, gathering teams of participants, some battling cancer, others survivors and everyone touched by the disease, to walk around a track for 24 hours straight.

The $5 was part of a classroom project at Hope View Elementary School. The kids were given the money with no strings attached and told to do something good, said Kim Davis, Matthew’s mother.

Matthew decided to give it to Relay “because it supports people that have cancer and helps them get wigs,” he said.

Cancer became a reality in Matthew’s life when one of his friends lost their mother to brain cancer in the fall.

Now, Matthew and his mother have a list of friends fighting cancer that they pray for nightly, Davis said.

Matthew became introduced to Relay through longtime family friend Traci Coffman, who got her kids and all their friends to participate in the event last year.

Coffman, the team captain of MOM Warriors, is bringing her group of moms and more than 40 kids back to the Relay for Life again this weekend.

Coffman said she tries to make the event fun for the kids, despite its seriousness, but she might have done too good a job.

Coffman wasn’t planning on participating again this year, doing a different service project annually, but an outpouring of begging from her kids and their friends to do the Relay again made her change her mind.

Her daughter Kayla Coffman, 9, rallied to do the Relay again and raise money for the American Cancer Society.

“It helps the people with cancer not die and helps them get medicine,” Kayla said.

Getting involved this year is just fine with Coffman, who has seen the kids really get into helping others.

“My main goal was to get the kids involved in something they can put their hearts into,” she said.

Coffman and her brood will walk in aprons for the moms and capes for the kids along with more than 40 other teams and more than 400 people Saturday and Sunday.

Huntington Beach has raised more than $80,000 for far, but is still trying to match last year’s total of $106,000.

Residents can preregister online or sign up the day of the event.

The Relay for Life is from noon Saturday to noon Sunday at Huntington Central Park off of Edwards Street between Talbert and Slater avenues.

There will be live entertainment, raffles, a silent auction and a Kids Kamp, firefighters will be serving lunch and dinner, and the Lions Club will be serving its traditional pancake breakfast.

To sign up, donate or learn more, go to www.relayforlife.org/huntingtonbeachca.

If You Go

What: Relay for Life

When: Noon Saturday to noon Sunday

Where: Huntington Beach Central Park on Edwards Street between Talbert and Slater avenues.

Register: Online or the day of the event

Donate: www.relayforlife.org/ huntingtonbeachca