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Each and every year, we all find a way to applaud the work and money raised at the Lyle Area Cancer Auction.

And for good reason.

This year, the auction raised $248,500 and edged ever closer to $4 million raised over 46 years of the event. It’s an amazing job by a small community, but this year LAC Chair Larry Ricke emphasized a point that’s worth remembering.

While yes, this and many events of a similar magnitude in similar small communities all over Minnesota are worth lauding for the work they do from the organizing to the volunteer hours to the donors themselves, it’s just as important to remember that these are team efforts.

Again, for example, The LAC benefits from several satellite events throughout the year just as so many other auctions benefit in the same way.

These events require the same amount of dedication that the events themselves require and they are run by the same type of caring individuals.

We’re all in this run to cure cancer together in our own ways, and Ricke’s words ring extremely true. While we all work in different ways, it’s always for the same cause.

We see the results of the work during the events themselves, but so many do so without acknowledgment and without anybody knowing what they did.

And in southeastern Minnesota, we are represented very well. Our friends, family and neighbors that have involved themselves in this fight do so because they believe in helping each other.

That message alone makes everything worth it, because in a world divided in so many ways, this is one area we can all find common cause in.