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Canfield Interact members support Relay for Life
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Emily Wook (left), Krystal Bates, Dallas Turner, Elizabeth Vallas, Nick Morrison and Haley Holt (right) handed out T-shirts to survivors.
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Cancer survivors, many wearing matching purple T-shirts, walked the first lap together during the ceremony.
By EMILY GIANETTI
Canfield Interact Club members helped support the annual Canfield Relay for Life May 11-12 at the Boardman High School track.
Interact is a service organization with a wide range of opportunities for students to work in their communities. Members were also at the survivors’ dinner, held before the start of the walk. They also helped with the emotional Luminaria ceremony, lighting and labeling candles with the names of those who have been touched by cancer. Interact members even returned on Saturday to help clean up after the event.
“We have a really strong core group of people,” said Interact vice president Emily Conroy of her group. “I can definitely count on them and was proud of what we did.”
“Everyone has a family member or a friend who has been touched by the disease,” said club adviser Evana Delon. “My students are very respectful to all the survivors. We have been asked to come back many times and this is our sixth year.”
The relay began at 6 p.m. on May 11 and ran until 5:30 p.m. on May 12. There were approximately 2,500 people on site throughout the event and the local branch of the American Cancer Society estimates that $246,000 was raised.
According to event chairman Danielle Procopio, that amount may even increase if donations continue. The money raised will go to the society, which will redistribute the money locally, funding programs for those fighting cancer in the Valley.
Procopio also mentioned the need for student groups to do what committee members cannot.
The committee is limited in number, so students must take over the responsibilities that keep Relay for Life running smoothly.
Delon said that this is exactly what Interact, a student branch of Rotary Club, should do.
“We know that we make a difference. Our purpose is to try to make a difference,” said Delon.