Relay for Life volunteers needed

Volunteers are desperately needed to organize this summer’s Jackson County Relay For Life, according to Melissa Easterberg, community manager of development for the American Cancer Society Relay For Life.  

“At the moment, we don’t have a volunteer base to really put forth a relay,” Easterberg said. “We’re in dire need of a group of volunteers that will help us plan the event.”

Easterberg said there are two volunteers – Carol Buehler and Janice Schweigen – who are in the process of organizing the survivor’s dinner that is held annually to honor cancer survivors, their families and caregivers.

“However, there aren’t any volunteers working on the relay half of the event,” she said.

 The annual relay, which has been held in the county for more than 20 years, has tentatively been set for Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Jackson Heights High School track but that may change, she said.

“It’s still currently on the books for that date, but if we get a group of people in place and they start moving forward with the relay, we can look into moving it into September or October if we need more time,” she said. “I don’t want anybody to feel rushed or that they didn’t have the opportunity to do 100 percent of a job.”

If the Relay For Life continues as planned for Aug. 6, it will be run on a “condensed schedule,” Easterberg said, noting the event would be held from just 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. 

“We’ve talked about doing the survivor’s dinner and recognition piece and then going out to the track to do an opening ceremony that would recognize the teams and sponsors. We’d then do a couple of games and activities until dusk when we would do our luminaria ceremony and then be done,” she said. “It wouldn’t be an all-night walk anymore.”

The Relay For Life is set up with a committee structure, Easterberg said, with volunteers assigned to different aspects of the event, including sponsorships, luminaries, recruiting, logistics and accounting.

“All of these different pieces of the event are separated out to different people depending on their skill set and what they are interested in,” she said. 

Easterberg said to organize a relay, six to eight volunteers are needed, with meetings a few times a month prior to the event. While Easterberg is unable to attend all the meetings herself, she said she is able to be a resource to event organizers.

Three teams have already registered for the Aug. 6 event and have raised more than $9,000 so far, Easterberg said. 

According to the American Cancer Society, 74 percent of the funds from the Relay For Life go towards cancer research, patient support, prevention information and education and detection and treatment of cancer. The other 26 percent is used for management and general expenses and fund-raising expenses.

“We really need to put an event out there for those teams, survivors and sponsorship dollars already received,” she said. 

To volunteer, contact Easterberg at melissa.easterberg@cancer.org. To view additional details about volunteering, such as descriptions and timelines of all the committees, or to register a team for the event, visit http://relay.acsevents.org and search for the Jackson County event.