.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Spring is the season of renewed hope, and it’s also the time for many of the American Cancer Society’s key fund-raising events in Iowa.

Last year, about 8,000 American Cancer Society (ACS) volunteers in Iowa raised approximately $7.8 million to be used for cancer research and education. Nearly $6 million of that was raised during the organization’s signature Relay for Life events held throughout the state.

On May 1, Polk County residents can participate in Relay for Life at Southeast Polk High School; it’s one of 88 locations statewide at which the fund-raising events will be held this year.

“We go all night to symbolize the cancer journey,” said Chuck Reed, ACS public relations manager for Iowa. “We try to emphasize hope, and when the sun comes up again, you are hopefully done with your treatments and have beaten cancer.”

Other upcoming events include the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 3-mile/5-kilometer walk on May 1, preceded by Chefs in Stride, a fund-raiser featuring food prepared by Greater Des Moines chefs on Friday, April 16. Both events will be held at the Village of Ponderosa.

As the largest nonprofit funder of cancer research in the country, ACS will sponsor 940 grants nationwide this year totaling $480 million. In Iowa, $5.6 million of the money raised in the state will go toward eight major cancer research projects at the University of Iowa.

The needs are great, Reed said. Last month, doctors at the University of Iowa announced that cancer is poised to surpass heart disease as the state’s No. 1 killer. An estimated 6,400 Iowans will die from cancer this year, and another 16,400 residents will be diagnosed with the disease.

“Our biggest challenge is awareness,” Reed said. “Our latest information shows that 98 percent of people know who we are, but we’re talking in the 20s percentagewise knowing what we do.”

To provide free lodging for cancer patients undergoing treatment away from home, in October 2008, ACS opened the Russell and Ann Gerdin American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in Iowa City.

“It’s the greatest thing we’ve done in Iowa to improve quality of life for people with cancer in Iowa, by far,” Reed said.