The American Cancer Society will hold its Relay for Life at Lake Orion High School on May 22.
Teams of Lake Orion and Oxford residents will gather at the school on Scripps Road at 10 a.m. for the overnight relay against cancer. Relay for Life is a family-oriented team event where participants can walk relay-style around the track and take part in fun activities off the track.
Teams can include co-workers, club members, family and friends, all making donations prior to the event.
‘Relay for Life is a unique opportunity for our community to come together in the fight against cancer,? said Jeanine Crane-Thompson, chairperson. ‘Many of the participants are cancer survivors (anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer), which serves as a reminder that our community is not immune to this disease and we can actually help our friends, families and neighbors that have been touched by cancer.?
The public is also invited to attend the Luminaria Ceremony, which will take place after sundown. To honor the community’s cancer survivors and to remember those lost to the disease, survivors will circle the track rimmed with glowing luminarias while the names of survivors and those lost to the disease are remembered.
Luminarias can be purchased for $10 by calling (248) 483-4304.
Funds raised by Relay for Life enable the American Cancer Society to support local services and resources for cancer patients and their families.
Funds also support critical cancer research and community education programs designed to teach people how to reduce their risk of developing cancer.
Relay for Life events will be held in more than 4,200 communities throughout the nation, and have raised over $1 billion in the fight against cancer since the first relay in Tacoma, Washington in 1985.