Local Dragon Boaters Preparing for 3rd International Festival

A Love for Life, a local charitable organization that supports pancreatic cancer research, is preparing for its third appearance in the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival. The organization is seeking support from the community through sponsorships.

The nonprofit organization, founded by Newtown resident Christine Edmonds, has five dragon boats competing in the Oct. 4 festival on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.

Edmonds founded A Love for Life in honor of her late husband Kevin Edmonds and his sister Nora. Both were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at age 49 and died at 51.

“Though this seemed far too fast, and we would have liked more time together, we still consider ourselves lucky. The average survival rate for stage IV pancreatic cancer is a little over six months. We want to help change that number,” Edmonds writes in a letter seeking sponsors.

It the third year the organization will be paddling in the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Festival. The effort is one of the organization’s most popular fundraisers. With more than 120 participants, A Love for Life is one of the largest teams in the race, which is attended by more than 20,000 people.

All of the money raised by A Love for Life goes to The Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

“We do not use any portion of any donation for administrative costs, postage, or printing. Through a combination of t-shirt, hat, magnet, and jewelry sales, as well as yoga classes, wine tastings in New York City, guided tours at the Barnes Foundation, and private and corporate sponsorship, we raised over $80,000 last year, which was presented to the ACC in February. We hope you will consider supporting our efforts this year,” Edmonds writes in the sponsorship letter.

There are different levels of sponsorships, with opportunities for business name and logo visibility on the team t-shirts. Sponsorships are not limited to businesses. Individual names can be listed on the shirts as well.

Click here to visit A Love for Life’s website for details about sponsorship levels.

Those interested in sponsoring the team should notify A Love for Life by Sept. 15.

For more information, contact Christine Edmonds at 215.300.5580 or email christine@newtownpa.net.