This year’s goal was $120,000. By August, when the final numbers are tallied, Beaufort County Relay For Life co-chair Dawn Johnston knows that the many survivors, caregivers, friends and family taking part in the annual event will have fulfilled that expectation.

The amount raised during the 24-hour walk Friday and Saturday to support the fight against cancer raised $109,611.76, Johnston said. But the fundraising isn’t over yet.

“That’s the grand total, but we’ve still got some to be turned in, some matching funds, other things that we know are coming in,” she explained. “I think that’s a wonderful number. Donations go through August and there will still be more fundraising that counts towards this year’s event.”

Johnston said that turnout was great despite the cooler weather, but when it comes to the number of participants, she said it was hard to judge — while there were 34 registered teams, some of the teams had 6 or 8 members, others had 60 members.

“All I know is that the track was packed,” Johnston laughed. “There were people constantly coming and going.”

Of particular importance was the number of registered survivors who attended the event, she said.

“There were 234 registered survivors. That’s a huge number — that’s awesome,” Johnston said. “That was incredible to see that sea of purple (survivors t-shirts).”

While Johnston has been on the Relay For Life planning committee since 2004, this is her first year as co-chair, along with Chelsea Corey. According to Johnston, it was community participation that made for another Relay For Life success.

“We, Chelsea and I, just want to express our thanks to the whole community: the teams, the participant and survivors — everybody — because they have been so good this year.”