Within the last couple months, Relay For Life has been spending ample amounts of time preparing for their Relay event, which is one month away. The event will take place Saturday, June 11, and there are multiple opportunities for students to get involved as well as raise money for a great cause.

To help students prepare for the Relay event, every Wednesday Relay lunch hours are being hosted in room 146 during all lunch periods where students are able to meet with their Relay team or meet to train with Rita Sayre, on how to improve their team’s fundraising.

Another way that students can get involved in Relay is to volunteer for the survivor’s reception which will take place Thursday, May 19 at the Hattendorf Center for all cancer survivors in the Chicagoland area. Students may pick up forms for this event in room 146, and all guests at the event will receive a free dinner in honor of those survivors.

Sayre hopes that these survivors who will attend the reception will accept the invite to walk the opening lap during the luminaria event for Relay.

There are other ways to get involved besides being on Relay teams. Students can purchase baked goods from various Relay teams to help donate. Students can also donate money either online or by mailing a check to the organization. Sayre will also accept checks to the organization that students can drop off in her room if they prefer to donate in person.

On May 11, Relay for Life will be hosting a staff luncheon which will be catered by Patty’s Party Trays. Teachers can pay $18 to be a part of this, and they can choose to either attend the luncheon in room 146 or to have their lunch delivered to them in any part of the building by a Relay student.

For those who want to help out at the Relay event, volunteers are needed for set-up and cleanup tasks, hanging signs, and greeting people at the gate. Students looking for other volunteer opportunities related to fighting breast cancer can look for and sign up for events at www.volunteersignup.org/9MBWA.

This year’s Relay event will feature entertainment including the school’s a cappella groups and a performance from a band featuring EGHS’s own Tim Phillips and his friends. Currently, the name of Phillips’ band is still being decided and shall remain a mystery for now.

The tradition of the event, the luminaria ceremony, will conclude the event as the names of those who have passed away due to cancer are illuminated on the paper bags around the track.

It is Sayre’s hope that this event will feature those cancer survivors who attended the survivors’ reception at the Hattendorf Center having the honor of walking the first lap around the track of the ceremony.