ESSO Prepares for Annual Relay for Life Fundraiser
PEA’s Exeter Student Service Organization (ESSO) will partner with Student Activities to host Relay for Life this Saturday, April 8. The event is an annual fundraiser where student dorms and organizations man carnival-style booths to raise both money and awareness for the American Cancer Society. During the evening's Luminaria service, community members will have the opportunity to commemorate loved ones who have suffered or are suffering from cancer.
The theme of this year’s Relay for Life is community. This year’s co-heads for the Relay for Life committee, upper Gabby Gabel and lower Gavin Cotter, explained that they chose the theme so that the event would foster a welcoming atmosphere for faculty and their families in addition to students. Gabel and Cotter also both expressed hope that people will leave the event with new knowledge about cancer and its effect on the Exeter community. “We’re going to have an informational booth, and we really want a lot of people to spend time there so they can learn more about cancer,” Cotter said.
Over the past few months, Relay For Life has been raising awareness using their social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, and distributing various pamphlets and posters about cancer across campus. The fruit of these labors is visible in the 7000 dollars the Exeter community has already contributed to the event. Cotter credited this success to the introduction of technology into the Relay for Life fundraising process. According to him, Relay For Life typically only raises about 5000 dollars, but this year the committee has set the ambitious goal of raising 10,000 dollars. Senior Audrey Hahn agreed that this jump can be attributed to the power of technology, explaining that Relay For Life’s new online portal allows for a smoother transaction of money than the cash donation system did.
Annual booths such as the “Amen Jail” and “Hoyt Heels” will once again take place this year, while other campus groups prepare new and improved stands. Girl’s squash will host a pie-throwing booth, and boys’ hockey will host “Schena’s Shootout,” where participants will be able to shoot on the boys’ varsity hockey goalies.
At the beginning of the event, participants will have the opportunity to write the name of someone they know who has suffered from cancer on a piece of paper. At the end of the Luminaria service, these names will be read out loud, and when somebody hears the name that they wrote down, they will crack a glow stick, until the room is full of lights. “There are speeches and people share stories; there’s hope and sadness,” upper Meg Bolan said. “It’s a mixture of excitement and fun and winter carnival-type activities, but also a moment to breathe and to reflect and see what a lasting impact cancer has had on some people.”
This year, students, faculty and families alike have gotten involved in Relay for Life in many different capacities and for a wide variety of reasons. Each year, a majority of the Exeter community donates to the cause, volunteers at the booths or joins the committee. Gabel and Cotter both wanted to get as many people from the community involved in order to celebrate and support those who have been affected by cancer. “It’s a presence that is so common among so many students on campus, but nobody really knows about that,” Bolan said. “I think that Relay for Life is an opportunity for students who are affected by this tragic disease to band together and find comfort that you are not alone,” Gabel agreed. She went on, stressing the importance of listening to each other’s stories, as almost everyone has been impacted by cancer. “For a disease that is so prevalent in our world today, it is extremely necessary for our community to come together and support one another,” she said.
Personal stories regarding cancer are not always told in daily life. Thus, Relay for Life serves as an outlet for community members to share their own struggles or victories with cancer. For senior Audrey Hahn, who lost her mother to cancer, Relay for Life is a “happy and loving event that turns that loss into something that brings me closer to my community.” For some, like upper Chloe Scocimara, Relay for Life is simply a way to get involved and reach out to those who have suffered.
Gabel, on the other hand, has firsthand experience with cancer, both because of her grandfather’s death and because of her mother’s job as an oncologist. “I would remember my mom coming home from work, so sad, telling me that she lost a patient who she thought of as a friend that day,” Gabel said.
Cotter, who has suffered himself from cancer, relays with the determination to raise enough money for cancer research to someday find a cure. “It’s an experience no one should have to go through, and I think that it’s necessary to build awareness in a community so that they know that this isn’t something one person can deal with,” he said. “It affects an entire community.”
In the final week leading up to the event, the Relay for Life committee has been and will continue hosting an information and donation booth in the Academy Center. They expressed hope that the event will be successful in raising money for cancer research while allowing the community to celebrate, support and educate each other. “Working together will make us a stronger support network,” Director of Service Learning Elizabeth Reyes said. “We want a full house in the rink.”