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Along with the coming of the new year, comes a pair of local campaigns — The Lyle Area Cancer Auction and Paint the Town Pink.

The LAC will be held next weekend in Lyle and is in its 44th year while PTTP is in its 12th year of raising money for cancer research.

It’s never too early to tout the worthiness of these massive efforts, each with its own personal history but the same goals — helping find the cure for cancer.

The LAC has a long and rich history and is nearing $3.3 million raised throughout four plus decades of auctions.

Ever since the Austin Bruins held their first Paint the Rink Pink in 2011, the overall effort of PTTP has ballooned not only into a community-wide drive, but a county effort as well. Several events have been created to help raise money and many more are sure to come on the horizon as the community recognizes the need for this kind of research.

Each dollar raised goes directly places like the Eagles Cancer Telethon (LAC) or to The Hormel Institute (PTTP), where money is used for seed grants that will hopefully lead to larger studies and the breakthrough we’ve all been waiting for.

During this month and into February, we urge you to give what you can and to take part in both events, which has brought an entire county together for unprecedented and continued pushes toward solving one of the most important mysteries of our time.

We look forward to seeing your continued support of this worthy fundraising effort.