Relay For Life kicks off in Seaford

Relay for Life held its kickoff event on March 24 at Runyon’s restaurant in Seaford for those interested in walking for the cause. The kickoff, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, helped to gain momentum for the event later this year.

“What we try and do at our kickoff is try and get people in the community to just come and sign up,” lead Co-Chair Denise Goban said. “One of the main problems that we have is that a lot of the people who live here are not aware of Relay, so this is a good outreach plan.”

Since 1985, Relay For Life has benefitted the American Cancer Society, which has provided communities across the globe an opportunity to unite and fight back against the deadly disease. With more than four million people nationwide participating in the event, the Seaford chapter hopes to raise more than $50,000 and spread awareness.

“My main role is to guide Denise and the other volunteers in kicking off an awesome Relay season,” American Cancer Society representative Julia Biggiani said. “We like to get the momentum going by keeping everyone’s spirits high, getting everyone into the fundraising mindset and really promote the mission of beating cancer.”

With 50-50 raffles, purple balloons filling the room and an abundance of Relay T-shirts, the volunteers had fun collecting donations at the restaurant and letting people know about the cause. At the end of the night, gift baskets filled with wine and certificates from various local businesses were handed out to the lucky winners.

“We like to let people know that we are still here doing Relay For Life and that we have a large presence in the community,” Biggiani added. “There are people in the community who still have cancer or are fighting for the survivors that they are relaying for. The kickoff just helps in letting people know that we are still here and hopefully they will want to get more involved.”

The fifth annual Relay for Life of Seaford event will be held on Saturday, June 11 at Seaford High School starting at 4:30 p.m. For more information about the cause, visit relayforlife.org/SeafordNY.

“Unfortunately, many of my family members have had cancer, so this is definitely a personal connection for me,” Goban said. “This community-driven event will make Seaford a better place to live in and hopefully bring a lot of people together.”