This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Miami (OH) chapter.
Sadly, we have all known somebody who has had cancer, and we have probably all wondered how we can help find a cure. Well, you can! Today beginning at 6 p.m. Miami is hosting its annual Relay For Life in front of Millett Hall, and it’s not too late to join a team or just come with a group of friends to participate.
Colleges Against Cancer is the organization that makes it possible for Miami to host Relay For Life, an 18-hour fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. While people oftentimes think of Relay for Life as a relay – a race or a walk – it’s actually more of a festival. Starting at 6 p.m. tonight and going through 12 p.m. Saturday afternoon, Relay For Life offers many different events for Miami’s 44 teams and hundreds of participants. Many businesses from uptown donate food, and various organizations including acapella groups to jugglers to zumba bring their talents to Relay, giving it a carnival-like feel. This year, Relay’s theme is board games, so there will also be a ton of game-related entertainment available. Finally, there is a a dinner and ceremony for survivors, as well as what Relay calls a “Luminaria Ceremony”, where everyone present takes time to celebrate cancer survivors, remember those who have lost their lives to cancer, and fight back against cancer in the future.
Teams from all the organizations who have signed up are asked to have at least one participant from their team on the track at all times. This is certainly a tough and exhausting requirement to fullfil, but the point is to show that cancer doesn’t sleep, so our fight against it cannot sleep either. To sign up or donate, all you need to do is visit acsevents.org. Join any of the 44 Miami organizations participating (including Her Campus Miami!), or start a team of your own. If you cannot physically participate tonight and tomorrow, you can still do your part by donating to a team or an individual participant.
Each dollar raised will help continue the fight against cancer and maybe even save a life, so please donate or sign up – or both!