RFL of Greater Shelby Township 101
New to Relay for Life? Start here
If you are new to Relay for Life, we welcome you. Each Relay for Life event is a little different so I want to give you a quick overview of our specific event. Before I do that, I want to say that every team decides how they want to participate. There is no right way or wrong way to relay.
What is Relay for Life? Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature volunteer run fundraising effort. Funds raised are used to finance medical research, advocate for a cancer-free world in state and federal legislatures, provide reliable and science-based information to medical professionals and the general population, and to build local communities of people working together to end cancer in our lifetime.
Everyone Relays for a different reason and everyone’s relay journey is unique. What follows are my personal observations as a member of this event since 2008.
Your team: Teams come in all sizes. Some teams have one or two members and some have 20 or more. The size of your team is up to you and how you participate before the event and during the event is for you to decide. Relay is more fun when a lot of people participate, even if they only show up and walk the track. The more the merrier is a good rule of thumb, but if your vision is to keep it small and simple, that works too.
Fundraising: There are two basic forms of fundraising and lots of ways to accomplish them. The first type is pre-event fundraising. If you ask your family members for donations or hold a car wash to raise money, that is pre-event fundraising. The second type is day-of-the-event fundraising. If you want to sell baked goods and bottled water at the event or donate some baskets for the Silent Auction (more about that later), those are examples of day-of-the-event fundraising. You can pick one or the other, but most teams do a little of each.
Campsites: On the day of the event, every team that wants to will set up a campsite. Your team is given a place on the track to decorate, fundraise from, and act as home base for your team members. Most teams chose to use the annual event theme when planning their decorations. The 2023 theme is “Off to the Races” and teams are using different kinds of races (running, walking, rock climbing, swimming. skiing, cycling, winter sports, animal races, motor racing, boat racing, or any other type you can think of), to decorate their sights and teammates for the day. Costumes, t-shirts, themed fundraisers, and activities are all things you can decide to do. This is a good time to use your creativity!
The Event Itself: On the day of the event, teams will arrive early to set up. Depending on how much stuff you are bringing, 8:00 am is usually early enough. You will have until 10:30 to set up and get your vehicles off the track. The Opening Ceremony is at 11:00 and the day starts with all teams taking a lap around the track as their team names are called. Then we start walking! You can walk as much or as little as you like. Walking is our gesture to show our solidarity in fighting cancer, but this is not an athletic event. This is a raucous celebration of community and determination. There will be a DJ playing music (when there isn’t other entertainment on the stage), there will be items to buy (including treats and snacks), and lots of good natured competition.
Survivor Celebration: At noon, the survivors take the track for a lap of celebration! After that they will be treated to a catered lunch. They are our most honored guests! If you know anyone who is a survivor, please have them sign up at the website: Relay for Life of Greater Shelby Township or call 1-800-227-2345 and tell the person that answers that they want to sign up for the Relay for Life of Greater Shelby Township. Survivors are the very heart and soul of our event to it is crucial we reach as many as we can.
Entertainment: There will be a wide range of entertainment to keep you moving all day. Keep an eye on the newsletter for schedule updates.
Silent Auction: From 12:30-4:30 you can bid to your heart’s content at the Silent Auction and maybe walk away with some great deals. Your team can also donate baskets or other items for auction and your team will get credit for those proceeds. To learn all about it, follow this link.
Food at Relay During the day there will be a variety of goodies for sale at various campsites. From 12-7 we will have two food trucks on site: Detroit Panzerotti Company (Pizza and street food) and Sucree (French for Sweet) with loaded milkshakes and ice cream.
Luminaria Ceremony: The highlight of each Relay for Life event is the Luminaria ceremony held after dark to honor those who are battling cancer and those we have lost. Teams create designs on simple white paper bags, position them around the track, and put some sand and a lit candle inside so that we are surrounded by the spirit of hope that one day soon we will be able to say we have beat this terrible disease. We do a lap to remember and to feel the strength of the cancer fighting community.
What’s next? Now it is up to you to decide how you would like to Relay. Are you going to recruit a lot of members for your team and encourage them to raise funds among their family and friends? Are you going to plan an elaborate campsite and fundraiser to celebrate the day of the event? Are you going to skip the campsite altogether and come and walk and spend money at the silent auction and with other teams? Are you going to solicit donations from local businesses for the silent auction? There really is no right or no wrong way to do it. It’s been my experience that if you are doing something you enjoy you are more likely to come back year after year, so pick out something fun and do it! If you have any questions or need any tips, you can reach out at relayneighborhood@gmail.com and we will work to get the answers for you.