American Cancer Society Bringing New Relay For Life Event To Short Pump

Short Pump is about to get its own event in an established nationwide fixture that supports cancer research and those dealing with the disease. The American Cancer Society is seeking volunteers and teams for the very first Relay For Life of Short Pump, to be held in June in the Innsbrook Corporate Center. The world’s […]

March 15, 2010; 10:15 PM • by Trevor Dickerson

Short Pump is about to get its own event in an established nationwide fixture that supports cancer research and those dealing with the disease. The American Cancer Society is seeking volunteers and teams for the very first Relay For Life of Short Pump, to be held in June in the Innsbrook Corporate Center.

The world’s largest grassroots fundraising movement, Relay For Life mobilizes communities throughout the country to celebrate people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and provide participants with an opportunity to fight back against the disease.

“Relay For Life gives Short Pump a unique opportunity to contribute to the American Cancer Society’s mission of saving lives, by helping people stay well, by helping them get well, by finding cures, and by fighting back,” said Sharon Pierce, Community Manager for the American Cancer Society. “Residents who give their time, energy and financial commitment to this exciting event are really standing up for our community and its pledge to join the fight.”

“Formerly, the only Relay For Life event in Henrico County was the Relay For Life of Richmond West,” said Domenick Casuccio, Regional Director of Communications and Marketing for the American Cancer Society. ”Over the course of a few years, many teams requested a Metro Richmond event. Therefore, this year we saw the opportunity to split the Richmond West event into two separate events,” Casuccio said.

The Metro Richmond event will be held at Virginia Union University as the new event takes place in Short Pump.

“We are excited that we will now have a community Relay For Life in the local American Cancer Society’s backyard,” Casuccio continued, noting that the organization’s Virginia Volunteer Center is located adjacent to the event site in Innsbrook. The 2010 Relay will be held at Lake Rooty near the Innsbrook Snag-A-Job Pavilion.

The American Cancer Society is looking for community members to join the committee to help plan the event and for people to join teams and help raise money. “We hope to recruit 60 teams from the Short Pump area,” a hopeful Casuccio said. “A team can be a group of friends, family, coworkers, civic group, faith group, youth group, etcetera. Everybody knows a few people that [they] can bring together [to] form a Relay team.”

Relay For Life events are typically held overnight as individuals and teams camp out, with the goal of keeping at least one team member on the track or pathway at all times throughout the evening. Teams do most of their fundraising prior to the event, but some teams also hold creative fundraisers at their camp sites during Relay. Relay celebrates people who have battled cancer, remembers loved ones lost, and provides participants with an opportunity to fight back against the disease.

March 15, 2010 10:15 PM 0