Relay for Life :::
For Release: June 16, 2006
LTHS Relay for Life
Over 60 teams of students from Lyons Township High School are getting ready for this year’s Relay for Life on June 16 held at South Campus Bennett Field, 4900 S. Willow Springs Rd., Western Springs. There will be 10 students per team who will spend 24 hours walking around the Bennett Field track in an effort to raise money and awareness for cancer research. The event will start at 6pm and continue until the following morning, June 17, at 6am.
This year’s donation goal is $90,000 and the students are already off to a great start. The students are planning a garage sale at the Corral, obtaining corporate fundraisers, and hosting t-shirts sales. With all of their effort so far, they have raised approximately $15,000.
A few new items will be featured at this year’s Relay. There will be a big screen movie during the Relay playing until midnight. Also, leading the luminaria walk will be senior, Dan Donlon, of LaGrange Park, playing the bagpipes.
Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature activity. It offers a community the chance to participate in the fight against caner. Teams of 10 camp out and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Relays are an overnight event, up to 24 hours in length.
Over the twenty plus years of its existence, Relay for Life has spread to 3,800 communities in the United States and 8 foreign countries. What began as one man’s statement in the fight against cancer has led to the development of a worldwide event to help banish cancer.
The power of Relay is that it allows a community to grieve for those lost to cancer and to celebrate the lives of those who have survived. For the newly diagnosed, Relay offers a chance to meet someone who has survived the same type of cancer. For the cancer patient in treatment, Relay provides and opportunity to share with others. For the long-term survivor, Relay brings a community's recognition of the struggle and closure to a trying time in life.