Relay For Life 2013

Relay For Life 2013 was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Those 24 hours were filled with hard work, tears, laughter, paint, a significant loss of hair (I donated 8'' to locks of love), and circles around the track; all of which are memories I will never forget. Exceeding my goal and raising $530 makes me so happy, and I could not have done it without the support of my wonderful friends and family. I appreciate all the money everyone has donated to help fight cancer. I'm so glad I got to experience this event with my teammates , friends, and wonderful committee they all mean so much to me. Thanks to all of you, we are that much closer to kissing cancer goodbye!

My lovely field hockey team. Four of us donated our hair!

The event was incredible! I can't even to begin to put words to the feelings that relay gives you.  The event was so meaningful and touched my heart.  The Remembering ceremony was emotional. We turn the lights out in the gym so it is pitch black.  One of the student's at my school read a touching story of how she remembers losing her father.  Next, somebody spoke and said if you are fighting for a parent light your candle now, for a grand parent light your candle now, for a friend light your candle now, etc.  As each was announced a different set of lights turned on around the track, lighting up all of the luminaries.  Then everyone took about three- five silent laps around the track to remember those who we have lost to cancer.  This was really emotional, walking around the track reading the luminaries and remember those who I have lost. 

This was the luminary I made in memory of my best friend's (mIr) father. He lost his battle to cancer in April of 2007

Before this, was the locks of love donations.  We had over 50 females donate at least 8" of their hair.  For those of you who know me, know that I am incredibly attached to my hair. I used to practically cry when I got three inches cut off.  Well, I decided that since I surpassed my goal it would be nice to donate my hair. Yes, I got 8" cut off and yes I did cry in shock that my long locks were no longer mine. Donating my hair is something that is on my bucket list, so it is kind of cool to be able to check it off.  jHg did it with me.  Since we both had really long hair we thought it would be easiest to deal with if we both go it cut.

My face during this was priceless!

I am still adjusting to my new hair, but it isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I don't like it yet but in time I will come to terms with it. After all it is just hair and it will grow back eventually.  I'm lucky to even have hair.  Cancer patients lose their hair during treatment.

This is my before and after picture

Throughout the night we had numerous events and themed laps.  Some of these include: pizza, breakfast, messy twister, a burrito eating contest, survivors lap, caregivers lap, 90s TV show theme contest, trivia contests, a cheeto toss, and many others. 

2:30 a.m. rave

Goofy pictures in the photo booth

Messy Twister was definitely messy!

Overall, the event was a huge success.  My small school of less than 1,500 students raised over $52,000.  That is a pretty large sum of money.  I intend to keep relay in my life in the future.  It is an opportunity I suggest everyone becomes involved in if they aren't already.

xoxo

-mQs-

Relay Week post #3

Two more days until my Relay For Life event! 

Goal: $500

Money raised: $457

One of the fun things about Relay For Life is that it has added a decent number of shirts to my t-shirt collection.  For those of you who know me, know that I am all about tee shirts.  I have a huge collection of them.  

This was the first shirt to be added to my relay for life tee shirt collection.  We have been giving these shirts out all year.  Technically they are "free".  Once you raise $20 you get one of these shirts.  I think the reasons to relay are pretty comical.

This shirt was from the PINK OUT we had this fall.  The relay committee teamed up with the men's and women's soccer teams to raise money for breast cancer awareness.  Before the games we hosted a tailgate for parents and students by supplying them with pink lemonade and fun games like bra pong.  The players all wore these shirts for warm ups.  Parents of the two teams and members of the relay committee bought this shirts for $5.  This was one of the first fundraisers we did this year to kick off relay.

 Dining services, at the college, has a relay team.  They sold these purple shirts for $10.  I couldn't resist buying one.  After all it does go towards a great cause and the saying on it is just so clever.

 This blue shirt is what my relay/field hockey team will be wearing the night of the event.  One of the upperclassmen on the team designed it, and coach bought them for all of us. Score- another free shirt! 

 I love the color of this tangerine shirt.  This is the shirt that every committee member got this year.  Our whole committee wore them all day yesterday. It was a great publicity push to get people to ask us questions about the details for the event this Saturday!

This is the newest shirt that I had added to my collection. I got it last night, for free! We have a huge rivalry with Salisbury University.  Each year there is a big event, War On The Shore, where our lacrosse team plays SU.  This year we hosted the game.  (More details to come in a later post) All of the students go to the game, so we used it as a push for publicity for Relay.  We asked students questions about Relay For Life and if they answered correctly they got one of these shirts.

xoxo

-mQs-

Acts of Kindness

This morning while looking online I came across this article.  It talks about kind acts that people are doing to help those in despair due to yesterday's tragedy. It is nice to know that there are still good people in the world, especially at times like these. 

Click here to read! 

Volunteer More:

With the busy lifestyles that everybody is living right now, I feel that people are getting to caught up in themselves and forget to donate some time to helping others (volunteering).   Since coming to college, I have become incredibly involved with my campus' college kids against cancer group, also known as the relay for life committee.  Cancer has impacted my life greatly.  I, like most people, have lost numerous loved ones to cancer.  It is an awful medical condition with no cure.  The non profit organization, Relay For Life, works to raise funds to support cancer research and funds other resources to help patients that are fighting the battle.  

Relay Week:

This week is "Relay Week" at my college.  It is the week leading up to our Relay For Life event.  The event is on Saturday from 6 pm until Sunday at 6am.  Our goal is to raise $65,000 as a school.  My personal goal is to raise $500.  Right now I have $402, so I only need $98 to reach my goal.  I am so excited for the actual event I think it is going to be emotional but also a ton of fun too.  I am participating with my field hockey team. If you want to make a donation to my fund, Click here!

In honor of relay week, my blog posts are going to be a bit different this week.  I am going to post something relay related each day.  I hope you all don't mind!

Paint it Purple:

This past Sunday we painted the campus "purple" with relay decor. Here are a few pictures of what the campus looks like now.

Outside of the dining hall we placed 1,500 small purple flags in the grass to represent the 1,500 Americans that die each day from cancer. 

Even George is ready for relay!

Stay tuned for more relay updates this week.

xoxo

-mQs-