May 23, 2008
by Rose Schrott
The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life is a community event that honors the lives of people who have survived cancer and remembers those who lost their battle with it.
The relay is not an actual relay race. Rather, it is an overnight event, about 16 hours actually, that is filled with activities, such as a midnight movie, bingo, karaoke, ice cream sundaes and themed laps around a track, such as a pajama lap at two in the morning, an ‘80s lap or a limbo lap. Many teams who participate camp out for the entire night.
This year Relay for Life will take place for the first time at Horace Greeley High School on June 7 and 8, 2008 and I am the event chair. My hope for this relay is that it will bring our community closer together as we work towards an overall relay goal of $35,000.
Each person at the event has to be part of a team that raises money to help fight cancer. You can start a team, join a team or donate to a team by going to the Relay for Life of Chappaqua website at http://www.events.cancer.org/rflchappaquaNY and following the easy instructions. Most teams have between 8 - 10 people, but there can be as many or as few people as you want. So far there are 25 teams signed up with about 150 participants. We expect lots more volunteers in the last few weeks leading up to the event.
Honoring and supporting my seventh grade friend
I founded a Relay for Life team called Friends Forever when I was 12 years old and a friend of mine was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Four years later my friend is a successful cancer survivor and a member of my team. This year we have 11 people on team Friends Forever. Each person on the team is part of the planning committee for this Greeley event.
Over the past four years I was able to donate my portion of the money raised by my team and I to Camp Adventure, a camp where a child with cancer and their siblings are able to go to camp for one week and experience the novelty of just being a care-free kid.
When I went to visit this camp one summer I was able to see the joy that this camp brought these children and I left confident that my work with Relay for Life was helping to improve the lives of children with cancer. The rest of my team’s money was donated to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma research because that is the type of cancer that our friend had. It brings me great pleasure and relief to say she is now in complete remission.
Each year, my fundraising efforts will always be inspired by my friend Dana; however, I have dedicated my fundraising efforts to different people each year. This year, my fundraising efforts for the Relay for Life of Chappaqua are in honor of my Grandma’s best friend since age 12, Elaine, who recently passed away after a long battle with cancer.
Specific activities planned for this year’s Relay for Life at Greeley
Greeley’s Relay for Life Club has planned the activities for this event. As part of our celebration and remembrance we are hosting a survivor dinner and a luminary ceremony. The survivor tent is where all of the cancer survivors go to register and to be served a dinner on their honor. This year Villarina’s will be donating the food for this special dinner. The junior class government at Greeley is working on getting decorations and flowers for the survivor tent to show how much we all care for them. It is a way to truly honor their lives and their struggle to fight cancer.
The luminary ceremony is the most moving part of the relay in my opinion. It occurs when the sky is completely black, the lights on the field are turned off and luminaria bags are lit around the track. These bags are decorated with the names of people who have died or survived cancer. It is a beautiful part of the event and everyone walks the first lap, looking for the bags that they have decorated with the names of the people who they know.
This year at Greeley, we are hoping to add something extra to this ceremony to make it even more meaningful. Each person at the relay will hold a glow stick as a speaker announces, “If a family member has or had cancer, light your glow stick.” Next the announcer requests, “If you have a friend who has or had cancer, light your glow stick.” By the end of the announcements, everyone’s glow stick is illuminated. This lighting ceremony is a way to “illuminate” how many people in the world are affected with cancer and how every bit of money raised for research, no matter how much the donation, helps to fight against the darkness of this disease.
Please join us at Relay for Life on June 7 and 8 at the competition field at Horace Greeley High School.
Rose Schrott, a sophomore at Horace Greeley High School, is event chair, American Cancer Society, Chappaqua Relay for Life. For more details, visit her website: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeEasternDivision?px=3334733&pg=personal&fr_id=10812 or the main website: http://www.events.cancer.org/rflchappaquaNY.
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