Relay for Life-great use for all of my flashlights

I walked in the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society this weekend since my mom died from cancer last October. My family was evacuated the day after her funeral because of the Witch fire in Southern California. Obviously, cancer had a huge impact on my family and I chose to fight back by raising money to fight this disease. My sister made the luminaria for my mom and my mom's sister. These luminaria lit the track all night, but not the infield my team and I camped out at. At midnight, they turned off all the lights for the night so some people could sleep. Our group was left in the dark and I was the only one who brought lights other than one propane lantern a parent brought. The people that weren't on the track hung out under a portable carport shelter. I hung my Fenix L2D with diffuser, 2 4AA Energizer folding lanterns, and River Rock 1.5 watt lantern from the carport. I had a 3AA Coleman XR-C lantern down below. I loaned out 3 1AAA dorcy l.e.d. lights and Gen. 2 Inova X1 to kids. I let the adults chose from a Huntlight FT-01, Inova radiant series 2AA and 2AAA, Gerber Foreman, 2 3AA l.e.d. maglights, PT Quad and Yukon HL headlights, BD Spot headlight, Xtar Cree P4 18650 light, and many others. I saved the Fenix L1D and P3D for me as well as the 2008 Inova T1. Besides the blisters and tight tendons on the back of my knees, the event was fun. I made my goal of walking 22 miles, the length of the Mt. Whitney trail I'm dayhiking in June. This just goes to show us that we don't need to horde our collections of flashlights all to ourselves. We can find uses for all of them at once for the good of mankind. Find a cause that you can get behind and use your lights to help others.

Sorry about your Mom, Hooked on Fenix, but congrats on making the 22 miles for a really worthy cause.:twothumbs

I was astounded at the number of lights you took with you, and how generous you were in sharing them with others. But how did you keep track of them, and did you get them all back?

It's easier to get the lights back when you're working with kind-hearted people who you've mostly known for years. It was our karate school that was at the relay. They have been taught good moral values by their parents and instructors. It also helps that I'm a karate instructor. Few people will steal from a blackbelt.

Flashfan, thanks for your kind words. My mom's in heaven now with a new cancer-free body. The timing of her death couldn't have been better for her. She held out long enough to see her parents and brother who flew in from Canada. Her funeral was the day before the Witch Fire in southern California and we were evacuated the day it started. (We live in the town the Witch and Cedar fires started in.) She wouldn't have been able to be moved if she had survived that long. It seems that God wanted her cremated one way or the other. My sad grandparents had to take a flight home early because they couldn't stand the smoke. They had to take the 15 south to the airport while flames were on both sides of it. My family spent 5 days in motels, churches, and sleeping in cars until we were allowed back into town. Then we had no water to drink or clean clothes to wear for a week. We were the lucky ones. It's times like this that God reminds you of how good you really have it. I had friends who lost their homes. I had some friends who lost their power for a week or two. I gave them all my cheaper l.e.d. loan out lights. They needed them more than I did. I had a friend who was a paramedic in the fire department I was worried about. Luckily, he wasn't put on the front lines. Both my house and my dad's house were fine. I thank God for our brave firefighters who risked their lives sometimes working a couple days and nights straight to save lives and homes. However, I hope the leader of Calfire gets fired for his incompetence. I was yelling at the T.V. when I heard they had finally cleared the planes to take off from my town's airport only to leave for Chula Vista because the winds were too high in my town to fight the fire there. Then how did they take of in the first place? Here's some advice to the future Calfire leader. If there's a huge fire surrounding the airport that is the firefighting staging area for the whole county, don't take the planes to fight another fire first. Put the fire out around the town and airport before you lose your only chance of fighting the fire. Rant over.

Wow, Hooked on Fenix, what a hellish time that must have been for you and your family. Sounds like a war zone, albeit minus bombs, gunfire and the like. Really puts things in perspective.

It hasn't been that long since those fires, so I hope that you're all managing to "recover" well.