Students, faculty, parents, caregivers, and survivors all gathered in Anacon Hall of the Rebecca Stafford Student Center to honor all those who have battled or are currently battling cancer on April 11. Put on by Monmouth’s Colleges Against Cancer, a club affiliated with the American Cancer Society, Relay for Life has made its return to campus for the first time since 2019.
Despite Relay for Life’s 4-year hiatus, Julia Rice, President of Colleges against Cancer at Monmouth, shared that last year they held an event that Rice explained as a condensed version of Relay for Life. “We didn’t do any fundraising because we wanted to kick it off again and see how the students and the community were able to become apart of it again but once we realized how successful it was and how much everyone loved being there as a community, for such a good cause we decided it would be time to start Relay for Life again,” she said.
The success of bringing Relay for Life back to campus was evident through the devotion of donations, which will go towards patient support, advocacy, research, and even local community members. Before the event’s start, $11,041 was raised, and as of April 15, $12,775 has been donated to the American Cancer Society.
The opening ceremony began at 6:00 p.m., where Rice gave the opening remarks, “Whether you are from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s 90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s, one thing’s for sure, we are all here for the same reason, to celebrate, remember, and fight back against Cancer.”
Following the opening ceremony was a survivor ceremony, during which the survivors present were honored alongside their caregivers and given flowers and sashes.
Ludrianna Bazile, a survivor and treasurer of Colleges against Cancer, shared, “CAC has kind of been a part of my life from the beginning. The first encounter that I had with CAC and really American Cancer (Society) as a whole was Girl Scouts, going to my first ever Relay for Life, and seeing that experience. I did my first-ever luminary bag because some of my family members have suffered from cancer in the past. It is nice to see everyone coming together and trying to raise awareness and money.”
Kathy Dabney, Ludrianna’s caregiver, has been at Monmouth for about 25 years and serves as the faculty advisor for Colleges Against Cancer. As both Ludrianna’s caregiver and mom, she is able to apply her personal experiences to her role. “I just try to bring that compassion, that support, and my experience to the table. And I want to bring awareness to the campus, because it is needed here,” said Dabney.
Bazile said, “Everyone knows about cancer but sometimes if we are not faced with it, we kind of let it go to the back of our minds, but there is so much more that we need to do just in terms of funding, so we can get the research and maybe in a few years, we have better solutions, so we can get to place where we can say there is no more cancer. We can’t do that without funding.”
Awareness has grown on campus, as tables lined the sides of Anacon Hall where clubs and organizations gathered members of their groups to create teams, to show their support by posting their own on-site fundraisers. Kappa Sigma hosted a lemonade stand, Blue Hawk Records hosted an iced coffee stand, and First to Fly sold bracelets, to name a few.
Leilani Alma, a member of the Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc., shared, “We are here because, like somebody had said before, everybody is affected by cancer… as well as everybody on my team. Personally, I’m here for my aunt who suffered from breast cancer.”
Support for the event expanded beyond just clubs and organizations. Students and faculty, along with the local community, demonstrated a commitment to the cause. Gillian Omotoso, junior music industry major, shared that she came out to the event after finding out the day of. She said, “It is undeniable how noble and beautiful the cause of the event is.” After sharing that she honors her dad and two aunts who have faced cancer, she added, “I’m glad that we are able to make joy out of the cause and bring people together, and I love that Monmouth is doing that.”
In the opening ceremony, Monmouth President Patrick Leahy said, “I hope that events like this, however formal, motivate us all through the year, day in and day out, to be as sensitive to others who are dealing with this as we can be.”
Two-time survivor and junior at Monmouth, Alayna Riozzi-Bodine, shared at the Survivor Ceremony, “I am honored to be here tonight not just as a two-time cancer survivor but as someone who has been forever changed by the community, compassion, and purpose that events like Relay for Life bring into the world. Relay for Life is more than just a fundraiser. It’s a movement, a collection of life in the darkness.”
Shortly after remarks and personal testimonies were shared, the survivors took a survivor lap around Anacon Hall, where they were then joined by their caregivers and all who were present. After the survivor laps were complete, all participated in games and activities that honored their loved ones. At 9:30 p.m., just before the event started to come to an end, the Luminary Ceremony took place, and tears were shed as people connected with the reason why they were there.
Rice concluded, “Relay for Life is a beacon of hope. For 40 years, we have empowered communities to take action, but the journey isn’t over. Every 15 seconds, someone hears the words ‘you have cancer.’ Together, we raised over 6.9 billion dollars, supported over 30,000 survivors, and contributed to saving over 4.1 million lives through research and support. That’s definitely one for the history books.”
