Cancer never sleeps and neither will we.
The American Cancer Society Relay for Life of Shelton & Naugatuck Valley gets underway with teams gathering at the Shelton Riverwalk and Farmers Market on Saturday, June 2 at 2 p.m.
Walkers will go around the track in the battle against cancer for 18 hours with the closing ceremony taking place at 7 a.m. on Sunday, June 3.
Relay for Life events are held overnight as individuals and teams camp out with the goal of keeping at least one team member on the track at all times throughout the night.
Some teams do most of their fundraising prior to the event, but most hold fundraisers at their camp sites during Relay.
Relay for Life bring together families, friends, businesses, schools and people from all walks of life – all aimed at furthering the American Cancer Society’s efforts to save lives by helping people stay well, get well and fight back.
The Shelton & Naugatuck Valley Relay for Life Planning Committee has a full, 18-hour event schedule for the day of, including a Zumba class, karaoke, and a midnight movie.
There will be plenty of entertainment for kids and adults, such as a scavenger hunt, a frozen T‑shirt contest and live performances by Matt Cusson and Fifth Nation.
Get your camera ready for the Miss Relay Pageant, a woman-less beauty pageant where male participants dress up as women and walk the track to collect funds.
Also, the Dew Drop Inn and Hirschbeck’s Sports Bar and Grille will be selling food all throughout the event and Dunkin Donuts will donate breakfast for all participants who walk through the night.
The most meaningful parts of Relay are the Survivor Luncheon and the Luminaria Ceremony.
Sponsored by Griffin Hospital, the Survivor Luncheon will treat each survivor and caretaker to a free lunch from Outback Steakhouse and Gioves Pizza.
Each survivor will also receive a gift bag, a t‑shirt and a voucher for a free message from on-site message therapists provided by Griffin Hospital.
During the Luminaria Ceremony, simple white luminaria bags are transformed and illuminated after dark. Each bag is personalized with a name, photo or message in memory or honor of a loved one who has been affected by cancer.
Luminaria bags can be purchased the day of Relay for $5 per bag.
To help keep the Luminaria bags from falling over and catching fire, the planning committee is hosting a canned food drive in hopes of using the cans to hold the bags down.
After the event, the cans will be donated to the Shelton High School Food Bank and Shelton Spooner House. Canned foods can be dropped off at the Luminaria tent before 8 p.m. the day of Relay.
Also, another important part of any Relay for Life event is the Fight Back Ceremony; a guest speaker will share their story and inspire Relay participants with his or her commitment and challenge them to take a personal pledge of action (e.g. stop smoking, eat more healthy, exercise regularly, etc.) in fighting back.
This year the ceremony is titled Fight Back Against Cancer with Health Awareness and Fitness and our guest speaker will be a doctor from Griffin Hospital.
Last year’s Shelton Relay for Life raised $62,000 and this year we are going bigger than ever by including the whole Naugatuck Valley and raising our goal to $68,000.
“Relay for Life is a unique opportunity for our community to come together and celebrate people who have battled cancer, remember those we’ve lost and fight back against the disease,” said Kristen Ostrowski, Shelton & Naugatuck Valley’s 2012 Relay for Life Event Chair.
If you would like more information on forming a team, sponsoring the event or donating, please visit www.relayforlife.org or contact Agnes Crisanti at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
