SEBASTIAN — It will be months before hundreds of volunteers lace up their walking shoes and take to the track for an overnight relay to benefit the American Cancer Society, but the Relay For Life season has officially kicked off in northern Indian River County.
More than two dozen volunteers gathered in the LoPresti Aviation hangar at the Sebastian Municipal Airport to get started on organizing next year’s fund-raiser.
“We want to get everyone excited about Relay,” said event chair Charlotte Carlson Waitner as she cooked up hotdogs to serve during the rally. “It’s never too early to start raising money.”
Relay For Life of North Indian River County will be held May 9 and 10 at Sharks Stadium at Sebastian River High School, unless plans change.
Theresa Woodson, a representative of the American Cancer Society, said they were considering other potential venues but did not expect to change the location for the upcoming Relay.
Relay For Life of the Beaches will be held at Riverside Park in Vero Beach on April 4 and 5 and Relay For Life of Indian River County will be held May 2 and 3 at the Citrus Bowl at Vero Beach High School.
The goal this year for the Relay For Life of North Indian River County is to have 32 teams that raise $2,000 each. That amount – plus corporate sponsorships – could put the event over the $1 million-raised threshold since 2001.
“This could be your million-dollar year,” Woodson said, addressing the gathered volunteers.
Teams are currently forming and are encouraged to have at least 10 members. Once formed, the teams and individual members begin fund-raising, holding various events and asking for donations.
“People don’t say ‘no’ to sweets,” Bay Street Pharmacy’s Theresa Tholle told the crowd, explaining that her team often holds bake sales in the store. “But I feel guilty selling to my diabetic customers” so she tries to have sugar-free treats for sale as well, she added.
Over the 13 years the North County Relay has been going, Bay Street Pharmacy has been involved, raising $40,000 total for the American Cancer Society.
Funds raised through Relay For Life go to a host of programs, including cancer research, lodging for cancer patients and their caretakers who have to travel for treatment, and transportation to treatments, to name a few.
Each year, Relay For Life has a theme. The 2014 theme will be Carnival.
“It’s so easy to visualize,” Woodson said. “I think it’s so fun.”
Bruce Zingman, a member of the Sebastian Property Owners Association, said the group will again participate in Relay. At this early point, though, they haven’t ironed out any details for how they’ll incorporate the carnival theme.
“It’s really a neat thing,” Zingman said of Relay For Life. “It’s great how this community gets together to help.”
To that end, both Woodson and Charlotte Carlson Waitner are hoping more volunteers step up to take on organizing not only the North County Relay but the other two as well. The other Relays are currently without event chairs and the North County Relay needs people for the planning committee.
Anyone interested in volunteering, forming a team or otherwise looking for more information about Relay For Life in Indian River County is encouraged to email Theresa Woodson at theresa.woodson@cancer.org.
