Relay for Life has been around for a very long time, and differs on the small points from community to community, but there are several elements in each area’s event that are standard parts of the fund raiser. Those features are pretty much identical no matter where you choose to attend a Relay for Life event:
- because cancer never sleeps, they last all night
- teams of eight to fifteen people are the most typical participants (such as a company team from ADT or another group)
- there is a Survivor dinner
- the relay begins with a Survivor Lap
- the Opening Lap comes next, with teams carrying their banners
- a luminary candle light vigil honors those who have lost the battle with cancer
- the Closing Ceremony and Awards take place at the end, and is sometimes referred to as the Fight Back Ceremony
Recently, Colleges Against Cancer has begun running Relay for Life events on college campuses across the United States. The college campus relays are usually tremendously successful in raising large amounts of money for the fund raiser event due to the enthusiasm of college students and their families as well as Alumni. The college campus events are highly publicized both before and after the event and gain much attention from the broad surrounding communities.
On College campuses, the event is typically organized by a team of student and faculty Chairpersons who manage each of the above listed aspects of the whole event. There may be a Vigil Chair, a Survivor Chair, an Opening Lap Chair, a Luminary Chair, and a Closing Ceremony Chair. This way, each person presides over a very narrow, specific segment of the event and therefore things run smoothly.
Thanks to the help of college organized Relay for Life events, even greater attention has been directed towards the fight against cancer and the need for funding for modern cancer research that will lead to a cure.
