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WINNSBORO — The orange wristbands had been sold and posters were made and displayed.

The Richard Winn football game dedicated in honor of first grader Lily Baggott had been played months before leading up to a celebratory night for the Winnsboro community and for Richard Winn Academy.

The night was one where students exceeded expectations and where their hard work and dedication may even save a life some day.

More than 111 students and parents from Richard Winn Academy gathered Oct. 4 to walk in honor of Baggott, in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s “Light the Night Walk.”

The group was led by RWA seniors Reid Johnson, Corey Davis, Sidney Edenfield and Zelick Levy.

The young men were inspired to form the team after several of them got to know Baggott while helping her mother, Liz Baggott, with yard work as a part-time job.

Reid Johnson, a longtime friend of the family, was approached by Liz Baggott about the possibility of starting a team. He was enthusiastic about the opportunity and that spirit was contagious.

The fund raising efforts grew to include the football team and then the cheer leading squad, most of the entire school and much of the surrounding community.

The goal of the group was to raise $2,500 for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, however their goal was shattered as they raised over $5,400.

“The students really put their hearts into it and seem to be encouraging it and I think recognizing their effort is important, too,” said Liz Baggott. “This Light the Night Walk team Lily is a wonderful way for Richard Winn Academy to support its own but others benefit, too, from the walk.”

Lily Baggott had a table at the event where she met with cancer patients and with walkers. She handed out water bottles and enjoyed interacting everyone.

The family is grateful to the people of Winnsboro who helped them through their daughter’s ordeal with cancer and then had it in their hearts to contribute to this foundation, which helps fund cancer research among other things.

They continue to ask for the community’s prayers as Lily Baggott completes the one-and-a-half years of maintenance treatment aimed at completely ridding her body of acute lymphoma leukemia once and for all.