The Callis & Associates crew donned their walking shoes for the sixth straight year to raise funds for the American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Pettis County. The team achieved “Gold” status by raising nearly $6,000 in our biggest showing yet.

In addition to hitting up our friends and relatives for donations, we held three fund-raising dinners and sold chances to win a handmade quilt and St. Louis Cardinals tickets.

We also held our trademark alligator wrestling, one of the relay's most popular events for participants. Here's how it works: two-person teams compete against each other to see who can be the first to deflate its blow-up alligator. But here's the catch, a team member has to verbally guide his blindfolded teammate to the air nozzle and then provide encouragement as the “blind” person squeezes the dickens out of the gator. Considering some of the positions assumed while deflating the alligators, we sometimes wish we were blindfolded.

But it's all for a great cause - helping fund research to find better treatments for cancer and save lives.

Our own cheery-voiced receptionist JoDee Buso was named Volunteer of the Year for her coordination of CPS-3, a 20-year cancer prevention study. More than 150 people, including some Callis & Associates team members, signed up to participate in the study.