Anna-Catherine Kueng ~ Assistant Editor
On April 13, 2019, the University of Lynchburg held its annual Relay for Life event on the Dell. Earlier in the week, an email was sent inviting Hornets to “come out and support our teams!”
Grace Ball, secretary and social media handler for the U of L Relay for Life chapter, said, “Fifteen teams participated, including sororities and other clubs, such as APO and Dance Works. We also had one business, Wheels on the James. It is a bike business, so they brought a bunch of bikes, but they were like adult tricycles. People could rent them out for $1 for five minutes, so they would do a lap on the bike.”
According to Ball, the event started at 3:00 p.m., but organizations that were tabling showed up at 2:30 p.m. to set up so they could sell different items. “Dance Works sold fried oreos and and Westover sold hot dogs. All the money made went directly to Relay for Life,” said Ball.
When describing how the evening went, Ball explained, “We had an opening ceremony where President Dr. Garren spoke about his struggles with cancer, since he is a survivor. He led our first lap. We also had small games throughout the day and everyone could take part in them and win prizes. Ced the Rapper came out and performed for us his new music. Then, we had our closing ceremony at 9:00 p.m. and we did our final lap to the Whitney Houston song, ‘I Will Always Love You’ and that was it.”
The University of Lynchburg ended up raising over $10,000 at Saturday’s event. Ball said, “Our goal was $8,000 so we definitely went over that. At our closing ceremony, we gave out prizes to Westover Honors College because they raised the most money of $1,500. Sarah Wyly [was the student] who raised the most amount of money. She raised $1,265, which is an insane amount.”
“It is important that U of L participates in Relay for Life because there is no cure for cancer and cancer affects everyone in some way, so we need to do our part as a university to raise money and awareness to help generate a cure. This was probably one of our biggest events in the last couple of years. We were very happy people came out even though it was drizzling in the beginning and that people actually stayed until 9:00 p.m.,” said Ball.
Ellen Druebbisch, Team Director of the U of L Relay for Life chapter, said, “Saturday was a great day! The amount of people that participated in the event was amazing and it really seemed like people were eager to raise money for the American Cancer Society. We spent so much time planning the event that it was awesome to see it all come together as well as it did. To see the community that formed around such a great cause was remarkable and I hope we can make it even bigger in years to come.”
Though this was Relay for Life’s last event of the semester, Ball said, “It was fun seeing all the work we had been planning for months finally come together and seeing everyone having such a good time and raising money for a good cause. We already have exciting plans for next fall semester.”
Druebbisch added, “Relay for Life is a way to bring the school together and build a community around a cause that touches so many lives. Cancer is something that the majority of people have been impacted by in one way or another, and the event on Saturday showed that the University of Lynchburg is willing to help. We are a school that strives to help others and Relay for Life is a great way to do that.”
