Now his grandson, John Shaffer – son of Don and Susan (Strycker) Shaffer of Culver and a freshman himself at Culver Academy – is keeping his grandfather’s memory alive and simultaneously raising money to combat the disease that took John Strycker’s life.
“When they (at the Academy) told us that we could make a (Relay for Life) team, my mind went directly to him,” says Shaffer. “I remembered my grandpa had died of cancer…and I didn’t want anybody else to go through that.”
So far, Shaffer has accumulated 15 team members and raised over $450 of the $1,000 goal his team has set for the April 18 event, to be held at the Academy’s outdoor track at the corner of State Roads 10 and 117. The Relay for Life is a non-profit organization that uses its monies for research towards a cure for a variety of forms of cancer, education about the disease, and services to those undergoing chemotherapy or other treatments.
Culver is the first high school in the Relay’s history to hold a relay on campus, and presently the school is the fourth highest in Indiana in terms of fund-raising. Teams are not limited to students; people of all ages and from all areas of the community are encouraged to participate in the event, which will begin on a Friday evening and continue until Saturday morning, with teams taking walking shifts. Members of each team, says Shaffer, are expected to donate at least $10 towards the goal, and encouraged to raise more.
Shaffer’s team is not the only one, of course. A growing list of teams will participate in the event, which was first conceived by Academies’ student Ashley Eberhart, who proposed the Relay to her student advisor, Lauran Allinson, and other students.
John Shaffer, meanwhile, continues to work towards his goal. He says that his grandmother, Nancy Strycker, is excited about the team. Her husband, who will no doubt be there in spirit, would have approved.