Relay For Life raises $38k to fight cancer

Following its signature annual event, JHU Relay For Life has raised about $38,000 to benefit the American Cancer Society.

The fundraiser was held on the Keyser Quad from 3 p.m. on Friday until 3 a.m. on Saturday. This year’s efforts raised marginally less than the $43,000 raised last year at this time, but the group will be accepting online donations until August.

Junior Kelly Chu, sophomore Daniel Dembner and senior Lauren Lipshutz, co-presidents of JHU Relay For Life, planned the main event, along with other events throughout the year. Chu originally joined JHU Relay For Life to gain insight into the planning that goes into a Relay event.

“I started participating in Relay For Life my junior year of high school, but I didn’t join the planning committee until I came to Hopkins — so my freshman year — and I’ve been involved since,” Chu said. “Junior year, I did it in honor of my friend’s dad, who was just diagnosed with lung cancer, so we all made a team and... supported her and her family. And I continued in college because I wanted to kind of see how it was on the planning side and administrative side as opposed to just being a participant who just shows up. I wanted to do more.”

Co-President Daniel Dembner became a part of JHU Relay For Life due to his own experiences as a cancer survivor. Like Chu, Dembner first got involved in Relay for Life as a high school student.

“When I came to Hopkins, I decided I would try and get more involved in some planning,” he said. “I am a survivor, so after that I decided to try and join and do a lot to help with supporting various organizations related to cancer research.”

Victoria Berges, a sophomore who attended the event, said she was touched by the sense of community among the event’s attendees and by the hope and positivity that the event inspired.

“I think it’s a really great cause, and cancer is something that pervades our society in particular. Seeing people breaking their glow sticks really puts into perspective how many people have had cancer touch their lives very personally,” Berges said. “My grandmother died of cervical cancer, which is still a very emotional thing to think about, but when I’m somewhere like Relay, I try to think of the bigger picture and how an illness like this is much bigger than my personal experience. It’s humanity’s struggle, so being somewhere like Relay really makes me feel like I’m supporting the bigger picture, which is something that is proactive and positive rather than nostalgic.”

Chu feels that the planning of the event, which took place throughout the school year, was a rewarding challenge.

“It’s definitely really good to kind of see how much work gets put into an event, because if you’re just a participant, you show up that day, everything’s set up, it looks great, the quad looks all decorated and the event runs smoothly, but behind the scenes, there’s a lot of work,” she said. “Right after the event ends, you start planning for the next year, so it’s just year-round planning and organizing.”

Chu described the three concurrent aims of a Relay for Life event.

“The motto for Relay For Life... is celebrate, remember and fight back,” she said.

The first portion of Friday’s event involved a survivor dinner, which was designed to celebrate life. Cancer survivors then complete the first lap of the relay race. Around 9 p.m., the luminaria ceremony, which is designed to remember victims of cancer, began.

“That’s really where we remember those who have passed away or those who are currently fighting. It’s a really somber, solemn ceremony... Every participant has a glow stick, and they’ll break it, so the whole quad is lit up by glowsticks, and we have these white paper bags that people purchase to dedicate to anyone who’s been affected by cancer. So it’s more... somber, solemn, than the previous few hours, where it’s been more about celebration,” Chu said.

Dembner described the end of the Relay for Life event, when its participants return to celebrating life and survival.

“It’s about just spending the night raising money to fight back. Music comes back on... It kind of gets a bit more upbeat, because that’s what it’s about; it’s about celebrating and fighting back as well as remembering those we lost.”

Berges enjoyed the atmosphere at the event and said she felt inspired by the personal strength of those present.

“‘We’re here to be positive and raise as much money as we can to make a difference in people’s lives’ really made me realize that this event was celebrating the people afflicted by cancer’s life, not mourning over their death,” Berges said.

The money raised by this event directly benefits the American Cancer Society. Hope Lodge, one program sponsored by the American Cancer Society, has a Baltimore branch that committee members of JHU Relay for Life visit once a month. When they visit, the club members cook dinner for cancer patients.