By Eliza Ridgeway

ELIZA RIDGEWAY/TOWN CRIER Alex Warren and her mom, Tracy, paste links for Chains of Hope. The handmade chains will honor cancer victims and survivors at the upcoming Relay For Life.

Link by link, Los Altos is preparing for the annual Relay For Life, scheduled June 24 and 25 at the Los Altos High School track.

Preschoolers and their parents gathered at Los Altos United Methodist Church June 1 to snip and paste pieces of the Chain of Hope. Cancer survivors will hold the construction-paper chains aloft over the track at Los Altos High School as they complete the first lap of the relay.

Each link represents one year since each survivor’s diagnosis. The 250 survivors already registered have accumulated 1,500 links. The chain will continue to grow through the day of the relay. “We have some survivors diagnosed this year, and one in her 37th year,” said Jan Masters, the relay chairwoman for survivorship. “The chain is a very personal connection, a visual realization that not only does each link represent a year in someone’s life, but that we’re connected. We’re all in this together.”

Preschoolers Ken Derryberry, Rebekah Arnold and Alex Warren assembled more than 900 links. The work will continue with other classes at the children’s center.

Some of the children decorated memorial luminaria in honor of loved ones in their own families who have fought cancer. Thousands of the decorated bags containing votive candles will stretch in a glowing line around the track the night of the relay.

Los Altos Relay For Life is an overnight event that raises money for the American Cancer Society and celebrates the survival of those who have fought or are fighting cancer. Relay teams maintain a walking member on the track at all times throughout the 24-hour event.

Last year the Los Altos relay topped the nation in online donations with $160,000, and exceeded its total fund-raising goal by netting more than $450,000.

For more information, visit www.losaltosrelay.com.