Thursday, March 6, 2008

Culver’s Relay For Life: Getting started

Editor's note: Culver's first-ever Relay For Life - and the only Relay in America held by a high school - will take place April 18. In an effort to inform the public and potential participants, event co-chairs Ashley Eberhart and Lauran Allison are contributing a series of articles to the Citizen.

By Ashley Eberhart and Lauran Allinson

On April 18, hundreds of people will gather at the Culver Academies football field for a night like no other. What follows are some answers to frequently asked questions about Relay basics.
 
Relay For Life of Culver will be 13 hours of festivities, friendship and fundraising for a cancer-free future.  Teams set up campsites and participate in all sorts of events during this time.  The celebration kicks off with opening ceremonies and a survivor lap and continues with the Fight Back ceremony, an advocacy event that gives ideas on how to save lives by preventing cancer.
 
The luminaria ceremony, which occurs after sundown, is when those who have been lost to cancer will be remembered.  While teams walk laps on the track to represent the ongoing battle against cancer, others partake in various entertainment options including face painting, carnival games, band performances, a “Mr. Relay” pageant and more.
 
The event concludes with a closing ceremony, where awards are presented and the total money raised is unveiled. Right now, about $25,000 has been raised.

If there is a band or other form of entertainment readers would like to see at Relay, call Ashley Eberhart, event chair, at (630) 947-3348, or email: eberhaa@culver.org.

Relay at Culver began when students of Culver Academies, juniors Ashley Eberhart x'09 (Downers Grove, Ill.), Alyssa Spratte (Chicago) , and Katie Barnes(Culver), started with a dream that one day no person would ever again have to hear the words, “You have cancer.”

They also felt that it was time for Culver Academies and Culver Community Schools to team up and work together to do something good. After “selling” the idea of starting a high school-run Relay (something never done before) to both the Culver Academies and the American Cancer Society, these girls set out to make their dreams a reality. They recruited a committee and teamed up with Culver Community High School.

Forming a team: everyone knows someone who has been touched by cancer. Ask family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to take part. Invite cancer survivors to join the team. Please note that all cancer survivors are welcome to register for the survivor dinner and victory lap, even if they do not want to join a team or stay for the entire event. Teams will also need to assign a team captain.

After choosing a team name, participants can be registered in less than five minutes and ready to start collecting donations. Team websites and personal donation pages have many capabilities such as sending group donation emails, checking to see if emails have been read, who has visited the web page and who has made donations. Contact Katie Barnes (barnesk@culver.org) with questions about registering a team or signing up on paper.
Teams usually consist of eight to15 members. Teams with fewer than eight people are still encouraged to sign up but teams with more than 15 people are asked to divide up and form two teams.
   
The team captain’s job is to motivate and encourage team members to raise money. This can be done through quick emails, phone calls or fun notes. The biggest way to ensure that one’s team is successful is to inspire by example: helping one’s team members to use the website and raise dollars to make  the team goal; sending emails reminders and tracking team progress from the Web site.

Team captains should attend all team meetings, which are fun and informative for everyone, so encourage team members to attend as well. Team captains also collect registrations for those people who don’t register online, all forms, and any offline money (checks and cash) raised from their team members.
    
The quickest and easiest way to raise money is to simply ask, and ask everyone! The number one reason that people do not donate or participate in the event is that they weren’t asked. Many people use their Christmas card list and send each of those people a personal letter or email with an explanation of why Relay is important.

There is no minimum amount needed to participate but teams are highly encouraged to raise the goal amount of $1,500 per team and at least $100 per participant. Prizes are awarded for the amount of money that each individual team member raises. Special incentives will be announced throughout the season to help achieve team goals. The event goal is $35,000 so if each person pitches in, a cure is one step closer. The first $100 needs to be turned in by March 17 to receive a free Relay For Life T-shirt to wear at the event, but fundraising can continue after the 17th.
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Click here for more information about the Relay For Life of Culver.