Organizers of the 2012 edition of the Relay for Life are looking for a few more teams to fill out the field for the event that's set to take place on June 22 at Brennan Park.
The successful Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) fundraiser, now in its seventh year, also needs volunteers to step forward to help the event achieve its goal of attracting 27 teams and raising $110,000, organizers said in a statement.
The Sea to Sky edition of Relay for Life, in which team members walk and jog around a track during a 12-hour period in support of those battling the various forms of cancer, began in 2005. It raised around $75,000 in its first year, a number that peaked in 2009 with $151,000 raised, organizers said.
That total fell slightly in 2010 and dropped to $110,000 in 2011. The number of teams also fell from 43 in 2009 to 30 in 2011, Brenda Chelswick, a member of the event's steering committee, wrote in an email to The Chief.
She cited a number of reasons for the decline. The 2009 total was boosted by a strong economy in the Sea to Sky Corridor, with many people working on Highway 99 upgrades and the Olympics, and the introduction that year of a "jail n' bail" component to the event, she said.
In the past couple of years, CCS staff have taken on a smaller role in the event and some local volunteers have also reduced their roles to focus on families, Chelswick wrote.
The number of local youths suffering from various forms of cancer -Theo Lazaridis and Jasmine Blake, to name two -shows that there's an urgent need for support, she said. Some local groups taking part in Relay for Life have staged fundraisers for those families, deciding to split the proceeds, with some of the money going directly to the families and some to the Relay for Life, organizers said.
For example, "the Brackendale Babes felt that it was important to support the Blakes through their journey. In particular, the Babes realized the significant costs associated with supporting a child through treatment, including lost income, and decided they wanted to help financially as well as to emotionally support this family," organizers said.
"Many of this year's relay teams have supported these Squamish residents directly in some way, while still fundraising to meet the goals of the Canadian Cancer Society, including raising awareness, promoting healthy choices, and providing education about preventing cancer in the first place."
The Brackendale Babes Relay for Life team organizes a number of fundraising events throughout the year. Their famous "flamingo flocking," for example, is set to begin on June 1.
Twenty-three teams are currently signed up for the Relay for Life, organizers said. Three or four of those are still accepting new members. Organizers have set a goal of having 27 teams participate and of equalling last year's total of $110,000 raised, Chelswick said.
For more information about getting involved in the Squamish Relay for Life, visit www.relaybc.ca.
