C OMMUNITY
Page s Your stories, your voices JULY , 2008
Community
Calendar
IVip to Crumpler
The Funtime Club will trav
el to Crumpler, N.C. Aug. 16.
There, the group will tour the
Cheese Factory and store and
visit the Farmer's Market and
enjoy traditional country food.
The bus will leave Northside
Shopping Center at 7:30 a.m.
and return by 6 p.m. Call 336
767-0105 for more informa
tion.
NARFE picnic
The National Active and
? Retired Federal Employees
Association (NARFE) will hold
its annual Independence Day
picnic on July 11 at Miller
Park, Shelter #1, starting at
1 1 :30 a.m. The meeting is open
to current and retired Federal
employees. For more informa
tion call 336-721-1783.
July AARP meeting
The local AARP chapter
will host the program. "The
Creativity Within Us,"* featur
ing Sofiya Griggs on Tuesday,
July 8 from 9 - 10:30 a.m. at
Winston-Salem State
University's Anderson
Conference Center. The meet
ing will be followed by an ice
cream social.
All AARP Chapter
Meetings are open to the pub
lic, particularly persons age 50
and older. For more informa
tion, contact Nancy Hall at
3360-765-2215 or at nancap
py@msn.com.
AA available to those in need
ALCOHOLICS ANONY
MOUS (AA) offers informa
tion and support for alcoholics
and their families
through group discus
sion meetings offered on a
daily basis at a variety of con
venient times and locations.
For a schedule, visit www.w
saa.org or call Alcoholics
Anonymous Hotline at 336
725-6031.
LEAP program accepting
applications
Kennedy Learning Center is
accepting applications for
2008-2009. There are limited 6
7, 7-8, and 8-9 Leap slots avail
able. Students must have been
retained and be over the age for
his or her current grade.
Students must apply to LEAP
and participate in a par
ent/student interview with KLC
personnel. Students most likely
to be successful are those who
are proficient in reading and
math with few behavior or
attendance problems. KLC is at
1000 Highland Avenue. Call
336- 727-2085 for more infor
mation.
Church Anniversary
Red Bank Baptist Church
will be celebrating its 118th
Church Anniversary on Sunday.
July 27 during the 11 a.m. and 3
p.m. services. The Rev. Ronald
Fisher, pastor of Dreamland
Park Baptist Church, will be the
3 p.m. speaker.
The chairpersons for the
program are Deacon William
and Sister Rematha Harris. The
pastor is the Rev. James R.
Clyburn Sr. Everyone is invit
ed to attend.
The church is located at
6405 Red Bank Rd. in
German ton.
The Code 3 for a Cure has logged thousands of mile.
i
I ^
Local Battalion chief Frankin Stowe, right, chats with the Lorenzo Abundiz and his wife.
Jennifer Stanley, center, holds a photo of her deceased son as she is surrounded by her family.
a
riHHUS ny la roiwici
Extinguishing
the Flame of
Cancer
Cure Caravan comes
through Winston-Salem
BY LAYLA FARMER /
THE CHRONICLE ?
As a retired fireman, Lorenzo Abundiz knows a thing or two
about staring danger and death in the face.
So when he was diagnosed with a rare and highly aggressive
form of cancer known as leiomyosarcoma in 1998, Abundiz
wasn't about to roll over and die.
Since the cancer was discovered, he has been medically
retired from the Santa Ana, Calif. Fire Department. The can
cer's origin, he was told, likely stemmed from his job.
"(Firefighters') rates of cancer are going a lot higher than
the normal people because we're exposed to all these carcino
gens," he explained. "A lot of the cancers are attributed to the
tar from roofs, roof fires. I'm fighting bladder cancer now, and
that was attributed to tar and I've never been a smoker."
Though it lacked the intense heat and bright flames he had
become accustomed to extinguishing, Abundiz knew his new
enemy was just as powerful and every bit as capable of devas
tation.
"I got tired from the cancer battles, and I thought to myself,
'Well, I've got to do something,"' he related. "I was laying in
bed when they took my kidney out and I said, 'One day ... I'm
going to take a fire engine across the country and celebrate my
victory over cancer."
On June 13, Abundiz set out to make his dream come true.
The Code 3 for a Cure crew, made up of Abundiz's wife, Peggy,
son, Jeremy, and longtime friend and fellow fireman John
Mc Knight, piled into a donated fire truck and embarked on a
journey that none of them would soon forget. Winston-Salem
welcomed the team to its downtown Arnold Bullard Fire
Station Monday afternoon.
He came tq, me six months ago and he asked me point
blank if I would mind driving a fire engine to New York City
and back," related McKnight. "... I was fully committed to
whatever needed to be done. I knew it was going to be a little
hot, a little bouncy - (fire trucks) aren't designed for interstate
travel - but my whole train of thought was that that's a very
small price for me to be part of this mission."
By the time the 8,800-mile excursion is complete, the crew
will have visited 60 fire stations across the nation.
"We've been meeting a lot of firefighters along the way,
there's a lot of camaraderie, a lot of stories of hardship and
struggles over cancer," Abundiz related. "It's been an eye
See Cancer on B9
Lorenzo Abundiz receives a hug from Hugh Stanley's aunt, Rene Collins.
The fire engine arrives in Winston-Salem.