Relayling for a Reason

This past Friday night at Relay for Life, many people lined up on the side of the track while the twenty or so survivors stood on the track to start their Survivor Walk. They walked around proudly wearing their sashes saying SURVIVOR on it. Some even brought family members to take the walk with them. As they started to walk around the track at Frostburg State University, the crowd was cheering as loud as they could. When they came back for the second lap, all the people lined up on the side jumped in to do the lap with them. This got every single person at relay doing one lap together. Rachel Garrison, a eighteen year old freshman, said "The survivor lap is my favorite party of Relay for Life. It was cool because it was motivation. We got to see people we are helping and it made me want to walk more."

Rachel has a history of cancer in her family. Her mom and aunt are breast cancer survivors while her dad has prostate cancer. She came to relay this year supporting them and wanting to help others become survivors too. She has been to many Relay for Life events before this one, but this was her first at Frostburg. She went this year with a group of friends. "Cancer hasn't directly effected my body but it has effected me in another way." Rachel stated, "It has made me appreciate life and grateful that I am healthy."

There were many organizations that came out to support Relay for Life this year. They were student club, faculty and Greek life. The top teams this year were The What's Up Docs, Chele's Stars and Delta Zeta. Each of those teams raised more then $5,000. There were a total of sixty-one teams and many of them had creative ways of trying to raise money. A the event, there was food you could buy, games to play, hula hooping, and even a kissing booth. So far there has been $50,432.95 collected. The goal this year was $53,000 and they will continue to accept donations until August 31st. Please visit the Relay for Life site for more details. (http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=32721&pg=entry)