Relay

I went through a bit of a crisis trying to figure out what to write for this event. My usual event analysis is tutoring a girl at Mother Seton Academy, but she was absent and I didn’t have much notice to attend something else. So, granted, it isn’t really an event for another month, I have decided to talk about Relay for Life. As a committee member, it is always good for us to get the word out to everyone we know (just in case you guys actually read this blog – sign up!!!!), and the meetings are technically like events and it’s for a good cause. So awareness is always good!

Relay for Life is an American Cancer Society event that raises money to help find a cure for cancer. It started with one man, who walked around a track for 24 hours gathering donations that he put towards cancer research in 1985. Now there are Relays all over the world! The concept is to have teams raise money from their friends and family, which goes towards the American Cancer Society. At the actual event, which lasts from 7 PM to 7 AM, one person from each team has to be circling the track at all times, in honor of the doctor who started Relay.

Being on the Relay for Life committee has given me an inside look at the behind the scenes action that goes into planning something like this. It isn’t quite Year of the City material, but it is doing something positive for the entire world, including Baltimore. We get to meet cancer survivors, caregivers, family members, etc, and learn how the words “you have cancer” have changed their lives forever. It is so moving and so inspiring to hear stories of battling cancer, and overcoming it.

One thing I did learn about this experience is the generosity in the hearts of people. I am on the sponsorship/fundraising committee and we have to send out letters to Baltimore-based businesses and ask them for a monetary donation or a food donation if they are a food-related business. So far, we’ve raised a ton of money, and nearly everyone we’ve asked has been more than willing to help us out. There is one month left till the event, and Sam’s bagels has already started freezing bagels to give us in the morning at the end of Relay. We’ve gotten donations from places on York Road, downtown Baltimore, Towson, White Marsh. It’s incredible.

The one thing that I wonder about that is connected to Year of the City is how there are so many homeless in Baltimore. We have gotten donations for $500, and it makes you wonder if these same people who gave us those would give a few bucks to a homeless man on the corner down the street from his office. Apparently not. If the whole world was as giving as the people who have donated to our cause, we wouldn’t have places like York Road, Baltimore.