Relay for Life to kick off in style

By Marc Hartmann

Guest Writer

Saint Mary’s University’s Colleges Against Cancer is once again hard at work preparing for the school’s annual Relay for Life event.

Relay for Life is a day-long event that SMU and hundreds of other colleges and communities across the country hold to raise money and awareness for cancer. All of the money raised from the event goes to the American Cancer Society and is used for programs that support those facing cancer as well as for research in the field.

Kelsi Addabbo, co-president of Colleges Against Cancer, says that the SMU community should be excited to get involved with the event because “it is a time we can come together as a community and remember those who have been lost and support those who have faced cancer.”

Relay for Life, one of SMU’s largest annual events, will be hosting a kickoff on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the Toner Student Center Game Room. The kickoff will include making Christmas cards and head scarves for those staying at American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge in Rochester. Hope Lodge is a place where cancer patients and their caregivers can stay for free while undergoing treatment.

The kickoff event will also provide an opportunity to sign up for Relay for Life. Those interested in participating can either join an existing team or create a new team. Addabbo said that besides asking friends to be on a team, all clubs and organizations should think about forming their own teams.

Relay for Life strives not only to remember those who have lost their battles with cancer and honor those who have fought or are fighting cancer, but also to make sure that future generations don’t have to go through the same battle.

Said co-president Laura Larson, “In the future, someone close to you, or maybe even you, may have to deal with cancer. Participating in Relay could benefit you and those close to you in the future.”

While Addabbo and Larson recognize that we all support Relay for our own personal reasons, they agree on the one ultimate goal: to fight for an end to cancer.

Saint Mary’s Relay for Life will take place March 16-17, 2012. To sign up for a team or get more information on the event, visit SMU’s Relay website at relayforlife.org/smu.