Walking the Talk

Team Dickinson will let their feet do the talking at annual Relay for Life

April 29, 2008

Participants in last year's Relay for Life make their way around the Carlisle High School track.

This year, Carlisle's Relay for Life will have its own day instead of overlapping with Dickinson's Commencement weekend (May 16-18). Now that the college community doesn't have to choose between the two events, relay organizers hope more people will run—not walk— to sign up.

The theme for 2008 is a country fair and hoedown. The 24-hour relay begins with an opening ceremony on Friday, May 30, at 5:45 p.m. and goes until 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 31. at the Carlisle High School track. Team Dickinson already has held numerous fundraisers including a children's Pink Ducky Scramble in October, a basket raffle at the holidays, a Valentine's Day bake sale and a crab cake sale.

Other fundraisers are on tap. Carnival Sweets day will be held on May 7 at Britton Plaza with cotton candy and snow cones for sale. The final activity leading up to the relay is a community yard sale on May 24 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the front lawn of the Facilities Management building at 5 N. Orange St., with a rain date of June 7. (Spaces for the yard sale are available for $10.)

Proceeds from the fundraisers and the main event, the relay, benefit the American Cancer Society. One in three people will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime and the Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society's signature activity. Groups of people, like Team Dickinson, stay all night at a local track and each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times.

"We would love to have anyone come and walk at any point throughout the relay," said Susie Thorn, senior administrative assistant in facilities management and co-chair of Team Dickinson. "They can let us know prior to the relay, or just show up."

The 15-minute opening ceremony will feature an opening lap with cancer survivors. On the same night at 9 p.m., a brief ceremony will be held with the luminarias—paper bags with candles inside—surrounding the track. Luminarias can be purchased for $10 dollars in memory of people who lost their battles with cancer or in honor of a survivor. Names of individuals listed on the luminarias will be read over loudspeakers.

Individuals interested in volunteering at the Relay for Life, or in representing Team Dickinson in the relay, may contact Thorn at 717 245-1272 or thorn@dickinson.edu.