Twelve hours. More than 5,000 participants. Over half a million dollars raised. One common goal: to put an end to cancer.
In the past seven years, Relay For Life at Virginia Tech has been the largest collegiate Relay For Life in the nation, bringing participants from all over the Montgomery County area and raising over $500,000 each year. Marking off a 400-meter track on our renowned Drillfield, hundreds of teams made up of student organizations, friend groups and residence halls set up tents for on-site fundraisers, selling baked goods, grilled cheeses, raffle tickets and more. From 5 p.m. to 5 a.m., local bands, student dance groups, Virginia Tech faculty and staff take the stage to provide entertainment and inspiration to our participants. For 12 hours, students, families, friends and neighbors from across the state walk and run around our track, leaving their mark on campus for the entire world to see in the following weeks.
Cancer survivors and their caregivers from across the nation are invited to participate in Relay For Life. We invite our survivors and their caregivers to take part in a Survivor Lap as a part of our Celebrate Ceremony where we honor all of those who have beaten cancer. We provide a banquet for each of these survivor participants along with their families with no cost to them, showing them how inspired we are by them for their relentless fight.
All year long, our committees work tirelessly to gain support from the entire community and work to reach beyond the boundaries of Blacksburg, Virginia. We partner with other collegiate Relay chapters to increase fundraising and participation. We become passionate, dedicated and slightly obsessed. And with every day, we become one participant closer to surpassing our previous record, one donation closer to reaching a new goal, one dollar closer to finally finding a cure and putting an end to cancer.
Whether our participants were personally affected by cancer or just know someone who has been affected, each and every one of us understand the meaning behind this event. At Virginia Tech, Relay For Life is more than just a one-night event. It's something we plan, fundraise and raise awareness for more than eight months. It's how we honor, remember and support all of our loved ones who have been affected by this awful disease. It's our way of showing that we will never give up hope.
Take a look at the impact we made from last year's event, sign up to be a part of the nation's largest collegiate Relay For Life for the eighth year in a row on April 22, 2016, and help us get one step closer to finding a cure.
