The Boston All University Relay for Life raised over $82,000 for the American Cancer Society (ACS) last weekend, surpassing the ACS's standard first-year goal of $15,000.
The relay, organized by the Boston Intercollegiate Community Service Organization (BICSO), took place at Cassidy Park near Cleveland Circle. It began with an opening ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and lasted until 11 a.m. the next day.
Jon Lennon, BICSO president and A&S '05, said between 80 to 85 teams participated in the event, 60 of which were comprised of Boston College students. At least one representative of each team had to walk on the track at all times during the relay.
Farley's BC Eagles, named after Ryan Farley, a BC student who died of cancer two years ago, raised over $5,000. Farley's sister Kaitlyn Farley, A&S '06, became involved with the walk early in the school year. "Jon Lennon was talking about how BICSO was going to start a relay, so immediately I stopped him and told him I wanted to be a part of it," she said.
The team included BC seniors, who were friends of Ryan, and freshmen friends of Kaitlyn. Farley's BC Eagles had 35 members, making it the largest team at the relay. "They were saying eight to 10, but I wasn't going to turn people away," said Kaitlyn.
Team Todd raised the most money on-line, and made over $6,000. The team is named after Todd Schwartz, a friend of BC student Nicki Pirello, team leader and CSON '06, who died of cancer last November.
Pirello was inspired to raise over $5,000 when she heard that amount is the standard for the platinum level donors. "I sat there and I was like there's no way we're raising any less than $5,000," she said.
Tom Millar, event co-chair and A&S '05, said that the All University Relay for Life was second out of 120 groups nationwide for on-line donations.
Halfway through the relay there was a luminaria lighting ceremony. "All the bags were lit; all the names on the bags are people who have died or still have cancer and are surviving. We read the names individually as people walk," said Jay Washak, ACS coordinator. Due to technical difficulties, the large overhead lights in the field had to remain lit during the ceremony. Before the reading of the names, a cancer survivor from MIT spoke to the participants about his experience fighting cancer as a child and campaigning for a cure years later.
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