A Blog Series by Maria Grove; Chairperson, 2013 Glastonbury Relay for Life
Welcome to the first in a series of BLOG entries that I hope will inspire you to participate in the Glastonbury Relay For Life. Each year, more than 4 million people in over 20 countries raise much-needed funds and awareness to save lives from cancer through the Relay For Life movement. Our event will be held at the Riverfront Community Center on June 14 and 15th.
I am new to Relay for Life, new to cancer, and as this year’s event chair it occurred to me that people might have the same questions that I did when I first started. One question I’m asked often is “Do I have to stay the whole time? “ The idea of the Relay is to stay on the track for 24 hours – “cancer doesn’t sleep, so neither do we”. That is a little hard to imagine if you’ve never participated before! No, you do not have to stay the whole time. The Glastonbury Relay does not require teams to have a representative on the track at all times, it would be nice…but it can be a little unreasonable. Join a team a split up the walking into shifts OR just plan to come for a few hours on Friday night. (come back again on Saturday morning if you are having fun!)
Another question many people is “Do I have to have a team?” No. You can walk as an individual, but it is lots more fun (and powerful) if you are on a team! This year the American Cancer Society is trying to “Pack The Track” and encouraging teams to have 13 members or more. But no team is too small or too large. If you want to try it out, but don’t have time to form a team, there are lots of well-established teams who would love to have an extra member and our Relay would be happy to introduce you!
The Glastonbury Relay for Life is excited to partner with the Glastonbury Patch to be able to spread the word about our Relay and we hope you’ll log onto www.relayforlife.org for more information.
The Relay for Life celebrates, remembers, and fights back against ALL cancers. If you haven’t felt like you or your family could connect with another race or fundraiser, then the Relay for Life is for you! I Relay to end brain cancer -- in memory of my Mom. She lost her battle with glioblastoma after only 3 months and nine days. Why will YOU Relay?
