[caption id="attachment_3093" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This Friday, Relay For Life of Macon Area Colleges will hosts its event on Porter Patch from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Last year, group efforts raised around $14,000 for Relay."]
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On Friday, April 1 from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., Mercer’s Relay For Life group will hold their biggest fundraiser event of the year on Porter Patch. This event is an all-night celebration of how much money the teams have raised.
The reason for the all-night event is to remember that cancer never sleeps.
The celebration will include live music from Atlanta performer E. B. Reece, games, tie-dye and root beer pong.
Last year, Mercer’s Relay For Life raised $14,000.
The organization’s directors are expecting between 100-150 people. Twenty teams participated in the fundraising efforts this year, including Delta Sigma Pi and Greek organizations.
The total fundraising amounts will be revealed at the morning ceremony for captains.
The teams are given freedom as to how they raise money for the cause. The teams consist of 10 to 15 people.
Emily Brownlee, Chair of Relay of Macon Area Colleges, said, “We have three really important laps: the luminary, survivor and faculty and staff support laps. The luminary lap is my favorite of the night. It’s a reverence ceremony led by bagpipes in memory of the people we’ve lost to cancer. “
The survivor lap celebrates everyone who is currently battling cancer or is remission.
Mercer faculty and staff are encouraged to attend the event. Both Anya Silver and Frank Macke, professors in the college of liberal arts, are cancer survivors.
Elizabeth Cobb, Fundraising Chair of Macon Area Colleges, said, “If you are not on a team or just want to come for a little while, you are more than welcome.”
Funds raised will help to further cancer research and to support Hope Lodges. Each lodge gives cancer patients and families a free, temporary residence when their greatest chance for treatment may be in a city other than their hometowns.
Relay for Life is the main fundraising effort for the American Cancer Society. It began in the United States and has spread to 21 countries throughout the world.
Cobb said, “Cancer is something that has affected almost everyone on this campus in some way. It’s a disease that will keep progressing, so our treatment for the disease needs to keep up. Our fundraising efforts help to fund research and prevention.”
Brownlee said, “My family has been affected by cancer. It’s something unpredictable that can ruin people’s lives. Helping head up something that could prevent this is very important to me.”
Finding a way to prevent others from going through what her family has been through is one of the reasons Brownlee decided to chair this chapter of Relay.
“The biggest reason is that it’s so much more tangible a thing for me. When my uncle was diagnosed with cancer he couldn’t afford treatment, or even get to the facility. Relay For Life helps to offset that.”
Mercer’s Relay For Life to honor cancer victims and survivors
This Friday, Relay For Life of Macon Area Colleges will hosts its event on Porter Patch from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Last year, group efforts raised around $14,000 for Relay.
