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Mostly Cloudy Relay for Life returns to Long Beach
Annual event supports cancer research
Hundreds came together on May 30 to walk the track at Long Beach Middle School and show support and raise funds for cancer research at the Long Beach Relay for Life 2015 event. Together, 32 teams raised more than $25,000 and donations are still coming in.
“It was just magical,” said James Baratta, 14, who volunteered at the event and participated on a team made up of freshman from Long Beach High School. “It was sad but at the same time it was beautiful.”
The community-based fundraiser presented by the American Cancer Society features teams walking around a track overnight to raise money for cancer research. Participants are often cancer survivor themselves or the friends and relatives of survivors. Games, activities and food are interspersed throughout the event to keep spirits up and build camaraderie.
According to Megan Stewart, a community manager for the American Cancer Society who has organized relay events in Long Beach since 2007, the event succeeded in bringing the community together.
“The high school and middle school were very involved,” Stewart explained. “The energy in the community was really great.”
“Cancer runs on both sides of my family,” said high school senior Brandan Persaud, who worked to help organize the event. “It feels great to give back and help others going through this and to bring the community together.”
Since Hurricane Sandy, the Long Beach relay events ended at midnight, Stewart said, but this year Persaud and his fellow organizers were able to convince the school board to let the teams stay overnight. “We wanted to show that cancer never sleeps,” he explained.
James Baratta, who also wrote about the event for the school’s newspaper, volunteered at the survivor’s dinner before the main event distributing shirts and pins. His mother, Michelle Baratta, is a cancer survivor who spoke about her experience with breast cancer at the relay.
“If you have a friend of loved one who’s going through this, you have to support and empower them,” she explained. “I’m not strong. You just have to do it. You can either lay down and let the disease take you or you can fight it.”
