ATHENS — University of Alabama student Emma Prier of Ardmore, Tenn., summed up her victory tonight by saying, “The trash talking worked.”
Prier was one of eight Celebrity Waiters who competed for tips at the annual City of Athens Relay for Life event at Applebee’s. The eight Celebrity Waiters raised a record total of $5,368.
Prier was excited about the total, but her main goal was to beat Mayor Ronnie Marks in memory of her “Maw Maw,” Kathy Cothren, a former Celebrity Waiter who beat breast cancer but died from colon cancer.
Prier raised $1,023.57 in tips for the American Cancer Society. Marks raised $850.
Prier issued a challenge last week that she would defeat him, and Marks told her to “bring it on.”
“That’s the great thing about issuing challenges to other waiters,” Marks said. “They always step up to beat me and help our overall mission, which is to raise money to fight cancer.”
The top earners, however, were the ladies in pink.
Kay Burlingame and Jackie Jackson teamed up to compete in memory of Jackie’s daughter, Staley Jackson, who died at age 36. Since her daughter loved horses, the ladies wore pink cowboy hats. They raised $1,674 in tips.
“We did it for Staley,” Jackson said. “People donated for Staley.”
During the event, a woman from Grant, Mich., Barbara Hemmeke, said her group stopped to get a hotel room in Athens on the way home from a stay in Florida.
The group went to Applebee’s to dine and stumbled into the Relay for Life event. Hemmeke is a cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 2007. She spoke to several of the waiters and said she is seven years cancer free.
Her Facebook profile states, “Worked at Beating Cancer.”
“We’re going to try to make it to Athens again next year for this event,” she said.
Team captain Holly Hollman said this is not the first time a survivor from another state showed up at the event. She said the last two years, a Minnesota couple – the wife a cancer survivor – ended up at Applebee’s on Celebrity Waiters night on the couple’s way home from the beach.
“We’re friends now on Facebook, and stay in touch,” Hollman said. “It goes to show you cancer touches too many, but so does our fight.”
The Applebee’s staff cheered along with the Celebrity Waiters and Relay team members when the total was shared. One of the Applebee’s staff members said she was a young girl when she lost her mother to ovarian cancer, and this event and Relay for Life are close to her heart. Applebee’s staff wore purple, the Relay awareness color, and decorated a photo station for attendees.
“Applebee’s and its staff are amazing to work with, especially with the volume of customers this event brings in,” Hollman said.
Bringing in the remainder of the tips to help the team exceed its goal were Athens Florist owner Matthew Jimmerson, Athens Firefighter Brinten Barclay, Athens High Football Coach Cody Gross and Athens Police Officer Michael Stainbrook, who was dressed as Batman to the delight of several diners.
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