Relay for Life has raised over 25 million dollars to go towards cancer research since it was started more than thirty years ago. This year, the Fenton Relay for Life beat their goal of donating more than $50,000 to cancer research. The NHS team also raised more money than they have in the previous years that they helped with the relay.

“We added more money from the events this year,” NHS Relay for Life chair Hope Dagenais said. “We ended up raising over $4,400 this year for the event.”

NHS ran several events in their tent ranging from helping survivors to selling baked goods.

“At the event, we set up a tent and sold baked goods,” volunteer Riley Wilson said. “We also manned a ‘jail’ where people could donate to put someone in jail and someone else would match the donation to get them out, which raises money for relay. We also helped serve food to the survivors, handed out bracelets with beads so people could keep track about how many laps they walked.”

Planning for the event began months beforehand, when the chairs and co chairs of the event met to discuss how the event was going to run.

“I went to chapter meetings with the ACS rep and local teams participating in the event,” chair Hope Dagenais said. “NHS members each had to sell 3 luminary bags for $10 each. We painted downtown Fenton purple and decorated windows on May 29 to get the word out about the event.”

The event ran from 11 am to 10 p.m. The rainy weather in the afternoon created more complications for the vigil that was held at dusk.

“The rain did not help, we had to clean up everything early and we all huddled in the tent,” co-chair Lauren Gruber said. “For the luminaria bags we had to light them and leave them under the tent instead of lining the track with them like usual because it was raining. We had to use glowsticks instead of the candles for the candlelight vigil, if we used candles, they would’ve gone out because of the rain..”

Members in NHS volunteered for shifts at the event. Each shift was two hours long and ten people worked each shift. There were six shifts throughout the day.

“It’s a really fun event to volunteer at and it’s a great cause,” volunteer Justin Beemer said. “I worked from 10:30 am to 1 pm. The beautiful weather in the morning made walking laps a really enjoyable time, I got to talk to some of the other volunteers and just enjoy myself.”

At the end of the day, the money is given to the Relay for Life and a candlelight vigil is held in honor of those who have fought, are fighting or have lost the fight against cancer.

“The cause is so great. There’s this part when the sun goes down and the sky turns dark. This is when they do a luminary ceremony,” Wilson said. “Basically, there are bags decorated for survivors and victims of the disease, and they are illuminated with candles inside. Then everyone does a lap in memory of the survivors and victims and it is so breathtakingly beautiful to have such a large group of people all supporting the same cause.”

The NHS team at Fenton’s Relay for Life raised more money for the relay than they ever have before. The volunteers gave their time to a cause that saves lives, and whose root of the problem may be nonexistent someday due to the money they raised and research it promotes.