Why Relay With Us?

It is almost that time of year to take part in the American Cancer Society’s great event, Relay For Life.  There are many events in our community in which we could be involved to help support others facing cancer.  We have prayerfully decided to put our energy into two main fundraising events for the year, Relay for Life in May and our own Think Pink Family Fun Run/Walk that happens every October. (Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 3, 2015 and stay tuned for details for that event.)

We have chosen Relay for Life for several reasons. Our first participation in the event was last year at the Southern Anne Arundel Co Relay for Life at South River HS.  The lighting of the Luminarias (when the sun goes down) and the silent lap to honor those that have survived and those that have lost their lives to cancer was extraordinary for me. There are so many loved ones that have been affected by cancer (not just Breast cancer) that I feel it is important to take the time to honor and support all that the American Cancer Society does for those facing the disease.

It is a great family event. When I was diagnosed, our kids were 3 years old and 22 mos. Fortunately they had a limited understanding of the heaviness of what was happening.  Now that they are growing up (and so fast!), I want them to be able to speak openly about cancer and not to fear it.  I pray for an extra amount of compassion in them for those facing the devastating effects of it. I desire for them to learn from the courage of warriors in the midst of the fight.  Most importantly, I want them to be assured of hope even when life hands you the really hard, like a cancer diagnosis.  Hope is what I experienced during this event last year.

It is also just a lot of fun. We form our team with a particular theme in mind and have the responsibility of being creative with special fundraising ideas available at our campsite. The idea is to have someone from our team continue walking for the entire duration of the {overnight} relay. However, there were only a handful of us that stayed through the night last year and that was so okay. We had many kiddos that needed to be tucked into their beds but I get excited at the thought of one day when they will all be excited to stay up all night with us.

If you would like to join us, go to our team page to register. We will appreciate any and all creative ideas to make our campsite really fun and draw people in to raise as many funds as possible for the American Cancer Society. If you can’t make it but desire to be involved with our team, please remember you can always dedicate a Luminaria ($10 donation) here in honor of a loved one affected by cancer under our team name, Pinked Perspective.