Relay For Life is an annual global fundraising event to raise money and support for cancer research and cancer survivors. Relay For Life started right here on the Puget Sound campus in 1985, when a surgeon named Dr. Gordy Klatt decided he wanted to raise money for the American Cancer Society to help his patients.
Klatt came to the University and walked and ran for 24 hours around Baker Stadium. During his effort, people in the audience donated money and cheered him on.
Klatt raised $27,000 on that day to help the fight on cancer. He walked approximately 83 miles.
A year later, he created an event known today as Relay For Life that allows others to partake in a similar 24 hour event in different communities throughout the world. In the first year, Klatt managed to recruit 340 supporters to join the overnight event.
Today, over four million people come together to participate and raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Relay For Life has accumulated more than $4 billion to fight cancer.
The money goes to research grants and research programs, detection and treatment programs, prevention programs, community and patient support programs, management and the construction of hope lodges.
Although the main objective of Relay is to raise money for cancer research and cancer patients, the event is held to spread cancer awareness, celebrate the lives of survivors, remember those who lost their lives to cancer and unite communities.
Puget Sound’s Relay For Life will launch on April 27th at 4 p.m., and will last until 10 a.m. on April 28. Participants have raised nearly $10,000 thus far and have created roughly three dozen teams. Students are encouraged to sign up and join this year’s spectacular event.
This year is a definitive moment in Relay For Life history because Puget Sound will have the opportunity to honor the one and only Dr. Klatt. The American Cancer Society’s Great West Region will be installing a plaque this year during the event with a short ceremony to follow.
Students can also choose to volunteer and lend their time to supporting the fight against cancer. People from all over the community will be joining together to reflect on the effects of cancer and to share in remembrance of loved ones.
Puget Sound’s event will have four main parts to capture the importance of cancer awareness and help is welcomed on any level.
Each year, Relay For Life posts the top-earned college and community online fundraising statistics. Student participants from this year’s Relay For Life would love to be able to raise more money than Pacific Lutheran University and other neighboring schools.
Having strong Logger support behind the event would be very helpful in showcasing the efforts that Klatt has been continuing for nearly three decades.
More information can be found at www.relayforlife.org. Visitors can search for “University of Puget Sound” under the “Get Involved” tab to see the progress that the event has been making.
