Pacific States Team Participates in Relay for Life in Honor of John Balian

On June 29, sixty team members from Pacific States participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in honor of their good friend and former General Manager John Balian (see attached pictures). Prior to the event they held a coloring contest and $1.00 was donated to the American Cancer Society for each entry. They selected nine winners (three for each age group) and all entries were displayed at the Pac States booth organized by the Wellness Committee on the day of the event.

To encourage participation, they also held a competition between departments to see who could get the highest percentage of participation. The Main Office won (with all but two people in attendance). John Balian’s wife and daughters (Terry, Shanan, and Heather) were also there to help out with the booth.

It was inspiring to see a supervisor at Pac States walk with his teenage son who has Leukemia and also a former team member who worked at Pac States for 20 years that has been battling cancer walk in the Survivor’s lap with the support of his two sons (who are both current members of the Pac States team).

We are proud to report that with such great support they were the top fundraising team at the event. In addition to supplies, Pac States donated $5,000 prior to the event and they raised another $1,000. It was truly a wonderful event. The team all pitched in to run the booth and walk throughout the event. In fact, they had someone walking the entire time from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. One person even walked eight miles that night which is truly amazing since he had major heart surgery just a few months ago.

Congratulations to everyone that participated in this event honoring our good friend John Balian.