Even though Relay for Life is only one day of the year, committee members have been working for months planning every detail of the event.
Creighton’s Relay for Life event is put on every spring to raise money and awareness for the work of the American Cancer Society. The event involves staying up all night without sleep to celebrate the lives of survivors, to remember those who have not survived and to help and inspire those who are still struggling with cancer.
The committee that plans Relay for Life usually meets once a month, working not on initiatives for Relay for Life, but on other campaigns such as Smoke-Out which raises awareness of lung cancer, and Pink-Out which raises awareness of breast cancer, giving away themed treats and pamphlets.
These smaller campaigns build up to Kick-off, which starts the “relay season” and introduces Relay for Life on campus. This is followed by Paint the Campus purple, which urges students to sign up and make a relay team.
Nursing sophomore Jenny Vestle, who serves on the executive board as the Vice President of Growth, was in charge of Kick-off, along with the researchers committee and team development committee.
Vestle, who began her work on the executive board last fall, worked non-stop to organize Kick-off, tying in this year’s theme “Spot a Cure,” that marked the 101st anniversary of the American Cancer Society with therapy dogs, cookies and lots of information about Relay for Life.
“Although Relay isn’t until March, planning for this event happens all year,” Vestle said. “We [the executive team and advisor] have all been working very hard, but we couldn’t do it without almost 1,000 participants and their fundraising.”
There is always constant work being done, in areas such as web design, fundraising and advocacy, which largely go unnoticed.
Many of the committee sub-groups only work for one portion of the actual day of Relay, like in entertainment or the luminaria presentation, but everyone on the committee ended up working together to pull the event off.
Arts & Sciences junior Nicole Dempsey, a first-year committee member, has gained more from planning this event than she ever expected, especially due to recent events in her personal life.
“I joined Colleges Against Cancer initially because I thought it was a great cause that I wanted to be a part of,” Dempsey said. “Little did I know that it would mean so much to me.”
Dempsey’s aunt was diagnosed with stage four Metastatic cancer this past year, and the positivity surrounding the entire event and committee taught her to “keep her head up and fight the fight.”
This year’s Relay for Life event was held last Friday in the Kiewit Fitness Center. The committee of over 150 members, according to Vestle worked all night to pull off the event they had been planning for so long.
“Relay for Life is a great outlet for Creighton students to show their support and take a step back to realize how precious life really is,” Vestle said.
For Dempsey, this could not more true.
“I know that my aunt is proud of me because my motivation is her,” Dempsey said.
Students gather in the Kiewit Fitness Center for Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Planning for this event is a year round effort.