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Nationwide the Relay for Life started in the mid 1980's,but here at Longwood University the Relay for Life started taking shape in 2003, and much like the school has been getting larger each year. The Longwood Relay for Life was able to raise almost $70,000 in 2015, and are on pace to raise more money in 2016.  The overall goal of the Relay for Life is to raise money to fund The American Cancer Society's research in finding a cure for cancer. Each Relay for Life event is coordinated with The American Cancer Society, who employs staff partners to help oversee, and coordinate the event.

 

Relay for Life at Longwood University 

For Longwood University's Relay event Emily Bacalis is the staff partner for the American Cancer Society, and helps by "attending their meetings to help provide ideas, along with support, and mentoring the committee so that they have a successful event." Bacalis supervises Longwood's Relay for Life committee, the committee is made up of students who are in charge of organizing all of the different aspects of the event. All members of the committee are in charge of organizing a different part of the relay. One of the most important positions in charge of organizing the event is the committee event chair, which is done by Senior Annie Tracz. Her job involves organizing the committee's bi-weekly meetings, in which the committee meets with Emily Bacalis to discuss current events surrounding the event. Another of the important committee positions is the sponsorship chair, Senior Becky Shearer is currently holding the position. The sponsorship chair is one of the more important positions, dealing with talking to local businesses in an attempt get these businesses to sponsor the Relay event. Shearer sells these sponsorship packets to local businesses, and was able to raise more than $3,000 is sponsorship money during last year's event.

 

As the event chair Tracz is also in charge of conducting four meetings per semester with the team captains. These team captains are the ones who organize their own individual team for the relay, and organize their individual team's fund raising. The team leaders are instrumental in the fund raising portion of the event. During the Relay for Life in 2015 one individual team leader was able to raise over $1,500 on her own.

 

With Longwood's Relay for Life event growing each year it is fair to have high expectations for the event. For Tracz she wants to "get more sponsors than we did last year, and of course to raise more money than last year." Tracz has an achievable set of goals for fund raising in this upcoming event, "we want to raise $75,000 dollars, last year we raised $68,334 so I think we will be able to hit that $75,000 goal." And her goals also extend into overall participation, "I also want to have 1000 participants on teams, which is a big goal of ours, to get as many people from Longwood as possible."

 

Tracz who is in her second year on the Relay committee also participated in the Relay for Life in her home town, and only sees one problem to Longwood's Relay for Life event's expansion. "One thing Longwood can't really do is have a big community wide event, they've tried in the past, but we couldn't get enough money for tents and everything." Tracz's colleague on the Relay for Life committee, Becky Shearer also has high expectations for next semester's event. Shearer hopes to "to have $4,000 dollars in sponsorship money" which would be a jump from last year's $3,050 raised through sponsorships.

 

For those who are helping organize the event the Relay for Life can have a special significance to that person. For Tracz her reason for being involved with Longwood's Relay for Life involve family, "I have been doing Relay for Life since about fifth grade, in eighth grade my dad was diagnosed with tonsil cancer, and it moved to his spine, he passed away in 2010 on July 3rd. I relay for him." Both Shearer and Bacalis decided to get involved with the Relay for Life for similar reasons as Tracz. Shearer participates in the Relay for Life for her family, "I do Relay for Life because there are many people in my family who have been affected by cancer, and by being a part of the relay committee I am helping raise money so that there is money for cancer research, and one day they will be able to find a cure for all these different types of cancer."  Bacalis' inspiration for  getting involved with The American Cancer Society, and Relay for Life is her grandfather, "I lost my grandfather to cancer in high school, so I got involved as a way to help find a cure so that others wouldn't have to lose their loved ones." Each person involved with the Relay for Life has a reason they relay, whether it be for family or for the future.

 

The effects of cancer have even touched the Longwood community. Early in 2015 Longwood Associate Athletic Director Michelle Meadows was diagnosed with breast cancer. Prior to Meadows' diagnosis she had never attended a Relay for Life event, "in January I was diagnosed, and our women's soccer team has been very involved in the relay, and invited me out last year to participate, and I was very thankful and honored to be a part of it." With her recent diagnosis Meadows' had a new outlook on the event, "It was a little weird because I wasn't a survivor yet I was more of a fighter, but everyone was very encouraging, and it was a great experience at that point to be a part of it, and I plan to be a part of it in future years." Meadows' diagnosis was the spark that got her involved with the Relay for Life. With this year's relay event approaching Meadows has not ruled out becoming more involved. "I would love to help, I haven't become aware of too many opportunities yet, but if one presented itself I would be very interested, and I would love to help raise donations, and bring others out to the event to show them they have a lot of support and encouragement." From her experience at her first Relay for Life Meadows wants to give back to those who were there for her during her treatment, "I would like to give back, there's just so many people that are affected by cancer..... and honoring those who are care givers is very important too. I look forward to inviting the care takers in my life to join with me and walk with me to say thank you." What Meadows took away from the event was that "just because you are diagnosed doesn't mean that there's no hope it just means you're in a new fight."

 

 

The Longwood community was there for Michelle Meadows during her battle with cancer, the athletic department in particular helped her out during that time. "There were words of encouragement, and helping during difficult times during treatment. When I needed help getting certain things taken care of they were there, and loved and cared for me." The Relay for Life at Longwood was able to make a positive impact on one of the members of the Longwood faculty, and at the same time showed support for her during her fight. "The American Cancer Society is the largest non for profit of cancer research. Without research we don't put an end to cancer. Relay for Life is the largest fund raiser the American Cancer Society has." Says Bacalis, but it also serves as a way to unite people, and the community by honoring those who have fought and who are still fighting against cancer.

20   40      60       80    100

(20=$20,000)

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