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Relay For Life logo

Relay For Life (often shortened to Relay) is the main volunteer-driven cancer fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. Originating in the United States, the Relay For Life event has spread to 21 countries worldwide ^[1]. Relay events are held in local communities, campus universities, military bases, and in cyberspace. Although the main objective of Relay is to raise money for cancer research and cancer patients, the event is held to spread cancer awareness, celebrate the lives of survivors, remember those who lost their lives to cancer, and unite a community in the fight against cancer. It is estimated that Relay For Life events have raised over 3 billion dollars to date ^[2]. The first team to raise over one million dollars is the Rosebud Miners ^[3], and the largest per capita fundraiser for a college or university is Loyola College in Maryland ^[4]. The largest virtual fundraising event is Relay For Life of Second Life, which has raised almost $700,000 since 2004 ^[5].

[edit] Birth of Relay

In May 1985, Dr. Gordon Klatt, a colorectal surgeon from Tacoma, Washington, decided he wanted to raise money for the American Cancer Society in honor of his patients. For 24 hours, Dr. Klatt walked around the track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. Throughout the night, friends paid $25 to run or walk 30 minutes with him. He walked approximately 83 miles and raised $27,000 to fight cancer. Nearly 300 of Dr. Klatt's friends, family, and patients watched as he ran and walked the course. After this successful event, Dr. Klatt thought about how other people could partake in a similar 24-hour event in communities across the country. He recruited a small team of people and put on the first Relay For Life event in 1986. Since then, Relay has developed into an overnight event where people bring tents and sleep out around the tracks. People of all ages come out to bring the community together and reminisce about their loved ones who have died of cancer and honor those who have survived while raising money to fight for a cure. Now, almost 4 million people take part in Relay events in over 5,000 communities in the United States ^[6].

[edit] Features

Although all Relays vary, there are a few common features:

Most tend to go overnight.
Most events last 24 hours.
Most participants are a part of a team, consisting of approximately 8-15 people.
A Survivor Dinner.
A Survivor Lap, which starts the Relay event.
An Opening Lap, in which all the teams take a lap around the track carrying banners.
A Luminaria Ceremony, usually with a candlelight vigil to honor those who lost their lives to cancer.
A Closing Ceremony, including one last lap around the track in which everyone takes part.
A "Fight Back" Ceremony, in which participants pledge to fight back against cancer in a number of ways. Nowadays, the “Fight Back” Ceremony is often the Closing Ceremony.

[edit] Survivor Lap and Survivor Dinner

Survivors are a large part of the Relay community. It is important to honor those who have won their battle against cancer. At most Relay events, a Survivor Dinner is held for survivors in the community to come together and share their experiences with cancer. It is also an opportunity for participants to reach out and connect with survivors. The Survivor Lap, which often signifies the start of Relay, is again used to distinguish the survivors and celebrate their victory. Sometimes survivors are invited to speak at Relay events to encourage those with cancer to continue fighting and to ensure the community that there is hope when given a diagnosis of cancer. Survivors represent the fact that cancer can be overcome.

[edit] Luminaria Ceremony

Relay For Life’s slogan is “Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back.” The Luminaria Ceremony is targeted towards the “Remember” section of the slogan. During this time, participants are asked to gather and remember those who have fallen victim to cancer. Luminaria bags are often decorated by participants, honoring a loved one who has passed or is currently fighting the disease. These bags are often placed around the track and candles inside the bags are lit prior to the start of the Luminaria Ceremony. Usually, the Luminaria bags are used to spell out words such as HOPE and CURE, and the words illuminate during the Ceremony. Some participants or guest speakers are invited to share their stories during this time, and each participant is given a candle to light in remembrance of a loved one. Following the Luminaria Ceremony, it is suggested that participants walk a lap around the track. At some Relay events, pictures of cancer patients are shown and Amazing Grace is performed.

[edit] Fight Back Ceremony

The Fight Back Ceremony, often held towards the end of Relay events, is a time when participants pledge to take action and spread awareness of cancer research, treatments, and prevention. Participants are encouraged to hold events in the community to help others quit smoking, push citizens to have routine screenings, educate about cancer in minorities, and to volunteer their time to the American Cancer Society. A representative from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) may come to a Relay event and speak about bills and legislation that are trying to be passed in communities pertaining to cancer prevention. The Fight Back Ceremony urges participants to register for ACS CAN and set up a CAN page. ACS CAN has been successful in passing Michelle’s Law (named after Michelle Morse) and is a proud supporter of birthdays ^[7].

[edit] Relay in the Community

Relay For Life is a volunteer-run event. Citizens of a community work alongside of their local American Cancer Society office to put on a Relay event. American Cancer Society staff educate the community on how to establish a Relay event and about the various activities and events that are held during Relay. Staff may also give fundraising tips and help publicize the Relay event.

[edit] Relay in Colleges

Colleges Against Cancer (CAC) was established to unite students, faculty, and university staff in the fight against cancer. Generally, CAC is the organization that runs the Relay For Life event on college campuses. Each year, Intercollegiate Summits are held for students to share their fundraising and advocacy ideas, and to help students be successful in running a Relay Event.

At some universities, there is a board of students who run the Relay event. Board positions can include:

A Recruitment Chair, who encourages students to join the Relay event and form Relay teams.
A Public Relations Chair, who spreads word about the involvement of CAC and the American Cancer Society in the college community. The Public Relations chair can be responsible for advertising fundraising events as well.
A Survivorship Chair, who reaches out to communities surrounding the university in search of cancer support groups and current cancer patients and survivors. The Survivorship chair will also work with the local American Cancer Society to host a Survivor Dinner on the night of Relay.
A Luminaria Chair, who organizes the Luminaria Ceremony.
A Sponsorship Chair, who reaches out to local businesses for matching donations.
A Logistics Chair, who organizes the Relay site.
A Fundraising Chair, who runs events prior to Relay to raise money.
An Activities Chair, who organizes various events (other than ceremonies) to take place at Relay.
An Overall Chair, who works closely with the local American Cancer Society Office to ensure the appropriate funding and resources for the Relay event.

Coaches vs. Cancer has also been established at universities between the American Cancer Society and National Association of Basketball Coaches.

[edit] Where Does the Money Go?

Over the years, money raised through Relay For Life goes to ^[8]:

Research grants and research programs
Prevention programs
Community/patient support programs
Detection and treatment programs
Management
Fundraising
Construction of Hope Lodges

[edit] Becoming a Participant and Donating to Relay

People interested in becoming part of Relay must first see if there is a Relay event in their community. This can be done by contacting the local American Cancer Society office. If there is not a Relay event in the area, one may decide to recruit participants and work with the American Cancer Society staff to establish a Relay event. If a Relay event is already present in a community, an individual may go to Relay’s website and search for their Relay event by entering their zip code on Relay’s homepage. Each Relay event has its own webpage. You may sign up for your community’s Relay event online. There is often a small monetary fee associated with registration for a Relay event. If one would like to donate money, he or she can write a check to the American Cancer Society or visit the local community’s Relay webpage and follow directions to make an online donation. Each year, Relay For Life posts the top-earned college and community online fundraising communities. In 2009, Relay For Life of Virginia Tech was the university that raised the most money online ^[9], along with the top online fundraising community, Relay For Life of Gwinnett ^[10].

[edit] Relay For Life International

The following countries hold Relay For Life events in several communities ^[11]: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Denmark, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Taiwan, and United Kingdom.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[0] ttp://www.cancer.org/docroot/par/content/PAR_1_3_International_Relay_For_Life.asp

[1] ttp://www.volunteermatch.org/search/org92520.jsp

[2] ttp://www.relayforlife.org/relay/rosebudminers

[3] ttp://www.loyola.edu/newsroom/news/09/0204_relay.html

[4] ttp://www.cancer.org/docroot/par/content/PAR_1_Relay_For_Life.asp?from=fast

[5] ttp://www.relayforlife.org/relay/whatisrelay#historyofrelay

[6] ttp://www.relayforlife.org/relay/crfbadvocacy

[7] ttp://www.relayforlife.org/relay/node/3443

[8] ttp://relay.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=RFL_FY09_TopCollegeUniversity

[9] ttp://relay.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=RFL_FY09_TopCommunity

[10] ttp://www.relayforlife.org/relay/international

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