Announcing the 2nd Annual Relay For Life at Yale University

For the second year, Yale will host the American Cancer Society’s signature event, Relay For Life, April 1– 2.

The overnight team-oriented walking event will take place at the Lanman Center in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium, 70 Tower Parkway. It will begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday and end at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Relay For Life is meant to honor cancer survivors and to gather participants as a community in the fight against cancer. All money raised is donated to the American Cancer Society to fund life-saving research, patient support programs, advocacy efforts and cancer education.

The 2006 Relay For Life at Yale will kick off with an opening ceremony featuring Yale College Dean Peter Salovey as Honorary Chairman of the event, Linda Mowad, RN, program director for the Cancer Information Service at Yale Cancer Center, and Stacey Leondis, a Yale College junior who is a survivor and serves on the Relay committee.  Immediately following this ceremony, cancer survivors will take the first lap around the track, as a symbolic gesture of their courage and strength. Following a special dinner reception for survivors, all participants will gather together at 9 p.m. for the Ceremony of Hope, to honor survivors and remember loved ones lost. There will be activities and entertainment throughout the event, including live band performances, movie screenings, raffle giveaways and a silent auction.

With more than 700 participants and 60 teams, the 2005 Relay For Life at Yale raised over $170,000, becoming the largest first-year fundraiser in New England and the ninth largest college Relay event in the United States. This year, organizers hope to raise $200,000 and to involve more people from the Yale community and the general public.

In honor of survivors or in memory of those who lost their struggle against cancer, Yale students are selling luminarias outside Yale Commons, 168 Grove St., from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. through March 31.

Registration is still open for those wishing to join an existing team or start a team of their own, and individuals are encouraged to stop by for all or part of this free and public event.

For more information or to register as a participant, please visit Relay For Life at Yale University online.

For specific questions, please contact the following individuals:

• To pick up a team captain packet: Stephanie Smith
• To register/RSVP as a survivor: David Mixter
• To volunteer at the Relay: Paul Morse
• To submit photos or quotations for the Ceremony of Hope slideshow: Wen Fan
• To dedicate a luminaria in honor or in memory of a loved one: Abigail Cotterill

For any other questions, contact Stephanie Smith or David Hirx at the American Cancer Society.