Emily Yinger, Guest Writer~
Heather MacNeil, Guest Writer~
Lynchburg College held its annual Relay for Life event April 7 from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. The beginning of the event was held on the Dell; however, due to inclement weather, the event was moved to Wake Field House.
Since 2006, 3,465 students have participated in Relay for Life at LC. Similar Relay for Life events are held all over the nation and aim to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
According to William Harris, who operates as the coordinator for the Southeast Region of the American Cancer Society, “Relay started in 1985…the number [total participants] for the whole state of Virginia over the years has been 439,594.”
The Relay for Life event held at LC hosts a different theme for each year. Organizations participating in the event sponsor a table that pertains to the theme chosen for the year. The 2018 theme for LC was decades. Organizations offer food and games at their booths for low fees.
“It was a good turnout compared to last year,” said LC Dance Works team leader Lauryn Beam.
Dance Works was one of 18 organizations to participate in the event this year. Beam led her fellow dancers to victory by winning the title as the top fundraising team at LC’s Relay for Life event. The team raised a total of $857. Beam contributed $200 from personal fundraising to Dance Works’ total amount.
“Really, as team leader, I just wanted to get as many girls to sign up as I could. Out of a total of fifteen people on the team, we had seven sign up, which was actually good compared to last year,” said Beam.
The overall amount raised from the event was $6,298.85 out of a $10,000 goal. The Relay for Life committee works together every year to orchestrate the logistical details of the event to help encourage students to raise as much money as possible for cancer research.
“We meet weekly and talked about what we need to do for the event…how many teams are going to be signing up, food trucks, entertainment, things like that,” said president of LC Relay for Life committee Valeria Rojo.
This year, the committee had 13 members who were assigned specific tasks to complete. Additionally, the entire committee worked together to fundraise for the event.
“We reached out to restaurants to fundraise by having 30 percent of a customer’s given bill donated to our committee total. Jimmy Johns donated money to use and the Muse donated a couple of gift cards to be used in prize baskets,” said Rojo.