Relay For Life is an event where people gather together, walking laps or participating in other events for the same goal; to raise money for the American Cancer Society to fight back against cancer in hopes to find a permanent cure. The National Honor Society, or the NHS, started planning the Relay For Life over the summer and started fundraising at the beginning of the school year. Some of the fundraisers include the penny drive, where the Middle and Elementary schools raised over $1,000, bidding to win Principal William Deal and Assistant Principal Ryan Smith’s parking spots, selling Valentines and flocking.
This year’s Relay will be filled with activities including a scavenger hunt, cornhole tournament, cup stacking, balloon stomping, the human knot, lip-sync battle, tug-of-war, a watermelon eating contest, musical chairs and various ceremonies.
As of May 24, there are 20 teams with 160 total participants who have raised $13,779.95. The top three teams are TROUBLE led by Mary Mortimer with $3,962.50 raised, Candy Land (NHS) led by Senior Carly Park with $3,024.35 raised and Hungry-Hungry Hippos led by Junior Vanessa LaValle with $1,979.10 raised. With a larger goal than last year, the Freedom Area Community will need to come together to the raise money for the American Cancer Society.
The Relay will be on May 28 from 2-10 p.m. Last year’s Relay was successful, raising $22,377.98 with the original goal of $10,000. This year’s participants have hopes to surpass this goal and aims to raise $30,000. The theme for this year’s Relay is board games, with teams such as Battleship, TROUBLE, Scrabble, Candy Land and Hungry-Hungry Hippos.
“I think that a lot of money will come from the actual Relay. There are many games, food and activities that people can pay to participate in, so all of that money contributes to our goal,” Senior Event Chairman, Brianna Frashure said.
Throughout the school year and planning of the relay, the NHS passed around the idea of an every other year relay. This idea came about when the NHS thought about the community. With a Relay this large, it requires a large amount of funding. With constant fundraisers behind held in all Freedom’s school buildings, it has the possibility to overwhelm the small business in the community. The idea is that this plan would be much more effective if held every other year rather than every year. As of May 13, Junior class members of NHS voted against having a Relay for the 2016-2017 school year. The NHS wants as much support and involvement as possible, and that will be most effective if Relays were held every other year.
According to the American Cancer Society, 595,000 people die every year in the United States from cancer. These Relays involve many students and their families who have seen and felt the affects of cancer in one way or another. The ultimate goal of the Relay For Life is to make a world where zero people have to suffer from cancer.
It’s encouraged that any student and their family that is free on May 28 should participate in the Relay. With more people donating and participating in these Relays, there will always be a hope, desire and a Relay to find a cure.