Relay For Life is a tradition that has turned into a worldwide fundraising group under the American Cancer Society itself. It began as a small fundraising idea by Dr. Gordon Klatt, who was a surgeon from Tacoma Washington, deciding to walk and run laps around a stadium to raise awareness for cancer. His friends, family, relatives and more began paying $25 to walk and run with him, specifically for the purpose of raising money. Dr. Klatt did this for 24 hours straight, raising about $27,000 in total and running about 83 miles. This event gained awareness, and more groups of people decided to do the same thing on a smaller scale, and it became a common trend in different communities. In Australia, a large fundraiser of this kind took place where over $70,000 was raised, and this event began the official “Relay For Life” group, which is now a subsidiary of the American Cancer Society.

Relay For Life has now become very common in schools all across the country, especially in Ramapo and Indian Hills High Schools. Relay For Life allows students to make teams, where they recruit their friends and all work together to fundraise. The students can fundraise through bake sales, selling merchandise, or simply asking for donations on the website. Many teams often have more than ten people, and each person usually raises over $100. These fundraising goals also come with achievements on the websites (like badges on your profile to show that you were a big contributor) and personal goals that you can set for yourself. All this fundraising leads to the Relay Night, where teams from school districts come together for a long night of walking and running around a track.

On Relay Night, the main event, teams gather together on a track or designated path and walk in laps. The goal is to stay the whole night, and teams are allowed to bring tents to camp in. Members who raised more than $100 are allowed to stay the whole night, otherwise you have to leave at 11:00 PM. Team members also bring snacks, food, and drinks to stay full the night, and there are also many smaller events that take place during the night, like races. Around that time, everyone gathers together on the field and sits down, and the luminaries begin. These usually begin with speeches from cancer survivors and people alike, and all the bags that were created to honor people who have died from cancer are lit. After the luminaries, everyone walks one silent lap around the track and the event resumes. The participant walk, stay in tents, or play on the field for the rest of the night, and the event ends with a closing ceremony at around 6:00 AM.

As of right now, I am part of a team called “Let’s Survive”. Together as a team of 13, we have raised over $4500, nearly reaching our $5000 goal. Out of all 67 teams in our district, our team placed #13 in donations ranking. I personally have raised $150, while some members on our team have raised almost thousands of dollars each. While the competition between teams is fun, it’s always important to remember why you’re raising the money, and how big of a cause the money is going towards.