Christy Whitney, left, of the Nestle' Relay For Life Team, and Ryan Nelms, right, of the American Eagle Team, braved the rainy weather Monday night at the Timken Track in preparation for Friday's Cherokee County Relay For Life. Smart Mouth personal pan pizzas will fill the stomachs and support local efforts to stamp out cancer at Friday's Relay for Life.

This year, the county's School Nutrition Association (SNA) has partnered with Smart Mouth Pizza on a fundraiser during Friday's American Cancer Society Relay for Life.

Food service workers will sell the Smart Mouth pizza Friday from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. at a site beside the Timken Track, Cherokee County food service director Roland Cabading said. The local School Nutrition Association chapter will donate all profits from the pizza sale to the Relay for the Life.

"Each of us has felt the agonizing effects of cancer," Cabading said. "We have watched helplessly as our loved ones and co-workers have cared for a family member or business partner whose life has been wrenched apart after a cancer diagnosis. The diagnosis may be personal, but the impact is universal."

Smart Mouth Pizza agreed to donate all the food and a concession trailer when Cabading approached the company for assistance with the Relay for Life event. Smart Mouth Pizza has been served in county high schools since last year.

Smart Mouth Pizza President Tom Willingham said his company was happy to help local school food service employees with their Relay for Life fundraiser.

"I lost my mother to breast cancer in 2001. Also my sister and lead pizza trainer are both breast cancer survivors," Willingham said. "There are also many of our lunch room employees around the country who have battled with cancer. This is a very personal charity to me."

The Pepsi Bottling Group of Spartanburg donated 35 cases of bottled water for the local SNA chapter to sell with the pizzas.

"Relay for Life events not only bring awareness to the community concerning the struggles cancer brings with it, but also shows people the joy we all share when somebody we know beats cancer," said Chris Jones of Pepsi.