More than 800 students and community members stayed up all night long to raise money for the American Cancer Society at Binghamton University’s annual Relay for Life.
The relay took place in the Events Center and lasted from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. By sunrise, participants had raised over $36,000 toward cancer research through ticket sales, which sold $10 presale and $20 at the event.
In addition to walking around the track, attendees listened to guest speeches by student cancer survivors, played in a bouncy house, watched performances from the Hoop Troop and the Treblemakers and enjoyed refreshments. Participating organizations and teams set up tables with fun and games, like “Pie an AKPsi” with Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity, water pong with Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and “Minute to Win It” with Alpha Phi Omega fraternity.
Jordan Rose, a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi and a sophomore majoring in mathematics, was a guest speaker at the event who shared about his own battle with cancer.
“At the age of seven I had stage two Hodgkins lymphoma,” Rose said. “I think Relay is a wonderful event. Unfortunately, everyone has been affected by cancer and I hope that there’s a cure one day, so I love giving back and helping out. The way they do it at Relay makes me feel comfortable and great that all of this is being done for something I’ve been personally affected by.”
Relay for Life also held the Luminaria Ceremony around 10 p.m. where white bags were lit up to spell out “Hope,” reminding everyone why they unite for the cause. This ceremony consisted of a long moment of silence for those lost to cancer.
Allison Perlman, the event co-chair and a senior majoring in business administration, said she became more involved in Relay for Life once cancer started to personally affect her life.
“I got involved in Relay in middle school and I just started walking at first because it was just something fun for me to do with my friends,” Perlman said. “I had never been affected by cancer until my senior year of high school when my grandma died of breast cancer and my sophomore year of college when my dance teacher and music director were both diagnosed with breast cancer. Every year it has gotten more and more important to me as a cause and an event and it’s just something really special for me to do.”
Some students said that staying the entire duration was a challenge, but for Gabrielle Winterton, a senior majoring in computer science, the experience was worth it.
”Relay is an important cause and I made a commitment to stay as long as possible when I signed up,” Winterton said. “I have family affected by cancer and I know that most of the people who go to relay can say that. By staying the whole time I think it really shows support to those who need it and to the survivors who attended the event. That’s what Relay is about, everyone sticking together to try and help cure cancer.”