Paper lanterns take messages into the night

They looked like colorful stars drifting into the cold night over the Sanders County Fairgrounds Saturday night. It was the annual Chinese Lantern Launch put on by the Cancer Network of Sanders County (CNSC), a fundraiser geared to help only Sanders County people who have been diagnosed with cancer.

"That is so cool looking," said Sherry McCartney as the last group of lanterns sailed over the fairground trees. One hundred and thirteen lanterns were launched during the hour-long event. All but a handful were sold prior to launch time, said CNSC board member Joyce Dougan. Just over a dozen volunteers, including six board members, helped launch the near foot long lanterns, which came in a variety of bright colors.

 The CNSC has held a lantern launch fundraiser for nine years. They used to do it on New Year's Eve, but moved it to the Saturday after Thanksgiving five years ago hoping that more people would attend and the weather would be milder. However, Saturday evening's 19-degree weather probably kept some people away, according to John Clark, president of CNSC. 

People wrote a variety of messages to loved ones on the lanterns. Some of those messages went to people who had fallen victim to cancer; others were cancer survivors. Spokane residents and sisters Karen and Jana Urion, who grew up in Plains, bought 25 lanterns. One of their lanterns was for their father, 86-year-old Austin Union of Plains, who has survived three bouts with cancer. His wife, Jean, said he had a checkup two weeks ago and was given a clean bill of health. 

The organization switched to a new type of lantern this year after getting complaints about burned out lanterns falling in people's yards last year. Clark said the new lanterns are made of rice paper, bamboo, string, cardboard and wax, and are 100 percent biodegradable.

Using heat guns and hair blow dryers, volunteers helped launchers inflate the lanterns inside the fairgrounds agriculture building. Once lit, the lantern was carried outside where the flames inside the lantern raised them into the night. The breeze carried all the lanterns in a northerly route. Most of them had handwritten notes and drawings on them, including a detailed rainbow. Not all were cancer related, said Clark. "They're a wishing lantern, so they can put whatever they want on them. Someone bought one for a newborn to wish him a happy life," said Clark, who put up lanterns for his late wife and daughter, who both won the battle with cancer but died later.

For some, the lanterns were a way to bring back happy memories, while for others, it's a form of closure. A few people sent their own lanterns into the night, but most of them were done by the volunteers on behalf of someone else. It took a few minutes for some of the lanterns to get airborne, but eventually all floated away and none got caught in the fairground trees this year. 

The CNSC was established in 2001 by the late Joyce Longpre, who died of cancer in 2008. The nonprofit organization initially gave out a one-time gift of $50. They've given out more than $600,000 and over 1,200 gifts since it began. Gifts today are $900. The only conditions are that they have to be Sanders County residents and are undergoing cancer treatment, said Clark, who added that all of the money raised by the CNSC goes directly to cancer patients. All of the board members are volunteers and receive no pay, said Clark. He said that the biggest difference between other organizations and the CNSC is that all money raised in Sanders County stays in Sanders County for Sanders County residents. He also noted that recipients can use the money however they like.

The group raised nearly $1,200 at the launching this year, three times the amount taken in last year. The lantern launch is only one of a handful of fundraisers for the CNSC each year. Other functions include Music For Mom in Thompson Falls in May, the Skunk Alley Run in June in Hot Springs, the Fall Extravaganza in Plains in October, and they participate in the Yard Sale-ing in Plains in June.

"This is a very important to Sanders County," said Clark. "It provides a service to people who are in need."