Relay for Life

Friday night was the night of the Relay for Life event. There were a bunch of different teams from my school and the Sunshine Coast community signed up for this fundraiser to raise money for cancer research. Each team was about 10 people but no more than 14 per team were allowed. So all of the teams worked really hard to fundraise as much money as they could, our team raised $1,821 and our goal was $1000- WOOHOO!

This was the girls on our team!

The event was an all-night event which started at 6pm on Friday and ended at 7am Saturday. Between all of the teams that were signed up one member of each team had to be walking around the track at all times, all night long. There were a bunch of tents in the middle of the track for groups and as you walked around the track some groups made baked goods to sell and donate back to the event. So as you were walking you could stop and buy a treat. Other teams made a bunch of baked goods and bought candy to sell or give out to other teams and they walked around to each tent during the night to make sure everybody was all sugared up : ). All money that was raised for the food, candy and treats was all donated back to the event.
At the start of the night they had an opening ceremony giving thanks for everybody who signed up and for all of the effort that was put in to raise money for this event. They also recognized the cancer survivors who spent the evening with us but most left at a decent hour and came back in the morning for the closing ceremony at 7am. There was a live band almost the whole night and when there was not a live band they played good music. At the start of the event at 6pm there was a countdown from 10 and as soon as we got to one the cancer survivors who were at the event did the first lap around the track holding a huge sign that said “H-O-P-E”. All of the people and teams who attended this event then did the first lap with the cancer survivors and followed behind them. After our first lap all together each team had to have at least one team member walking around the track for the rest of the night.

Our team had a really crappy set up with no chairs so we just put down a bunch of plastic bags and then put like 4-5 blankets over the plastic bags and that was our technique to keep the blankets dry so we can all lay on the ground or sit on the ground throughout the night, it didn’t work. Most of the blankets got wet so it was just more comfortable to be walking around the track the whole night, haha. I think I walked about 9 out of the 14 hours. I am just guessing because I didn't keep track but I didn't sleep at all. I did lay down and try to but it was unsuccessful so I figure I had 9 hours of walking and 5 hours of goofing off. I could be off though. I also played a little Volleyball, Frisbee, and Connect Four to try and stay awake.
At midnight the band stopped and we had a little half hour ceremony remembering why we were there and to think about all of the people who have lost their lives from cancer and to remember all of the survivors who were able to fight and survive. Each person from the team got a white bag that said "hope" and a candle. We put sand in the bags to hold them down and then put the candle in the bag to make it light up. We got to write names or notes or whatever we wanted on the bag and I wrote a note to my Aunt Patty who died 5 years ago from breast cancer. She was my real dad's sister and she was the only aunt that I have had that has ever taken a part of my life. She made it clear to my mom and dad when I was born that nothing was going to keep her from being my Aunt, even though my mom and dad did not have a good relationship.. She made sure to not let their relationship get in between her and my mom which I thought was very special of her to do because that would have been a hard task for anybody considering most of the circumstances at that time. It was really nice to have a special time to think about her and think about what my cousins Jay and Nikki had to go through during the time she was diagnosed till she died and how strong they had to be for her.

After the candle lighting we all did a lap around the track together with all of the lights turned off. That was kind of cool because if I had to guess I think there would have been about 300 people there... I could be off on this also though, haha. So we did that lap together and then set our bags all around the track and the bags stayed lit for the rest of the time. After we did our lap the music came back on and the laps continued. Every two hours we switched the way... I think they did that so we would stay awake, haha!

By the time four am came I was just doing everything I could to stay awake. Pretty much my options were walk some laps and find somebody interesting to walk with, haha! We got some food and a coffee truck came at 5 am (maybe 6, I cant remember) and then at 7am we had the ending ceremony. By 7am they couldn't really say anything that kept me interested in staying so I just left and walked home to my bed. However I did catch one thing... They said that they were not done counting the money we raised yet because it was still coming in from all of our teams but on Saturday at 7am April 2nd we had raised $28,000 for cancer research! WOW! So that was a really good turnout. Also, our school, University of Sunshine Coast was the first school in Queensland to hold a Relay for Life so they were really excited and this was the first time they did it so this event is just going to grow each year.

Almost our whole time, but not quite.

So during the ending ceremony I walked home with some other people who left and I brushed my teeth, took out my contacts, put in my ear plugs and put on my eye mask to keep the sun out and I passed out because I just stayed up for 23 hours all together. It was a really fun event and I would do it again but I was sure glad when 7am rolled around because when I am tired, I am not a fun person to be around, haha! I was wayy over my limit of staying awake :).
Oh yeah, and my camera died so I didn't get anymore pictures:). Okay NOW I am done blogging for the night!
Goodnight, time for my ear plugs :)