You may have noticed the purple and white ribbons adorning the trees along Middle Path lately. These past few days have marked Paint the Campus Purple week, and the main purpose was to raise awareness for the Relay For Life organization, officially kicking off the RFL team’s fundraising season.
As stated in its official Relay for Life of Kenyon College page, “Relay For Life is a life-changing event that helps communities across the globe celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. Relay For Life is also the signature event of the American Cancer Society.” This organization was first formed in 1985, and has been represented at our college since 2007. This year, the event’s co-chairs are Chelsea Katzeman and Hannah Laub. These two lead the RFL committee, which is made up of different chairs that are responsible for fundraising, advocacy, team recruitment, and more.Â
Kenyon’s Relay For Life organization was named a “gold-standard” event because it ranked in the top percentile of fundraisers for its size. Last year, the team raised around S68,000. So far this year, RFL has raised S3,200, with an ultimate goal of S70,000 by April. Each year, Kenyon has surpassed its goals, and raised more money than the year before.
Many RFL events are held throughout the year to raise funds for the organization. These year-long events help bring the entire Gambier community together and definitely do not limit themselves only to the students and faculty. Since October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, RFL set up a bra-pong booth in order to raise more funds – even President “D-Cat” gave the game a shot! The culminating event of the Relay year is the 24 hours walk-a-thon event, which is scheduled for Saturday April 12th 2014 at the KAC. It will be an overnight event that starts with a formal ceremony and continues throughout the night with games, races, food, and speeches, concluding Sunday late morning.Â
To clue you in on what RFL’s been up to recently: This past week the RFL committee team sold t-shirts in Peirce every day. The current theme is Win The Fight, also known as “WTF,” and all proceeds from the shirts went to the American Cancer Society. The traditional Wednesday Trivia Night at the Village Inn on last Wednesday was RFL-themed. Additionally, on Friday, the VI also hosted the Relay For Life benefit concert. On Saturday morning, the RFL team tailgated at the Kenyon vs. Wooster game.Â
Interested in participating? Look out for a lot of Relay For Life events in the near future! There will be different events every month. ‘Like’ the Relay For Life of Kenyon College Facebook page for more details!
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