College Hosts Tenth Annual Relay for Life

On Friday, April 26, Middlebury will kick off the 10th annual Relay For Life event, bringing together students, faculty and community members in support of those who have been touched by cancer to generate awareness about the disease and to raise money for cancer research. The event will begin on Friday at 6 p.m. and will continue until 8 a.m. Saturday morning, and will take place on the College’s athletic fields, weather permitting.

So far this year, Relay For Life has raised more than $40,000, and has 62 teams and 402 participants signed up to run the 24-hour relay event. The co-chairs of this year’s Relay for Life event, Danielle Gladstone ’13 and Marissa Hurwitz ’13, explained that they have been pleased with the number of teams registered, but expect that many will join in the final week before the event. Fifty of the 62 Middlebury Relay teams are made up entirely of students, including teams formed by sports teams, dorm groups, WRMC College Radio and social houses.

Besides running, walking and jogging, participants will be entertained by performances from Riddim, the Mamajamas acapella group, the Bobolinks, ZUMBA, Chase Daniel ’13 on the piano and DJ Officer Chris. The event will also feature speakers on survivorship and cancer awareness, as well as midnight movies and morning yoga. Food will also be made available by town vendors such as Noonie Deli and Ramunto’s Pizza. Ten percent of all sales will go to Relay’s cause.

Hurwitz described the interplay between the College and the broader Middlebury community in the organization of the Relay for Life event.

“Preparation involves the community as much as it does the school,” she said. “Several community members have teams and many of them also help us with things such as community publicity … there’s so much behind the scenes that no one sees.”

Relay For Life at Middlebury was founded in 2004 by two students, Ross Lieb-Lappen ’07 and Meg Young ’07. Since then, the event has fundraised more than $1.2 million. All funds are sent to the American Cancer Society, an association that allocates funds to cancer research, patients and programming. A substantial amount of money raised goes to ASC regional program funding.

“The American Cancer Society does a lot of programming that is targeted at families of people undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, or at the patients themselves, whether it’s providing them with transportation or with a kind of care or treatment,” Gladstone explained.

The co-chair also stressed that a significant portion of the funds generated at the events go to serving local patients and people in the Middlebury community.

“It also helps provide rides and housing, making sure that people have access to Burlington or to where they can receive proper treatment,” Gladstone added.

With the passing of community members Professor Emeritus Ana Martinez-Lage and Elaine Holbrook, mother of Economics Department Coordinator Amy Holbrook, in recent months, can has had a profound impact on the college community this year.

In discussion of this Relay and the celebration of her mother’s life, Amy Holbrook expressed great anticipation for this year’s event, which will be her first Relay without her mother.

“My mom has always been one of the top fundraisers for this event and even though she is no longer with us my hope is to maintain her top fundraising reputation in memory of her,” Holbrook said.

Gladstone and Hurwitz strongly encouraged the attendance of all.

“You don’t have to come for the entire night,” Gladstone said. “You can come and stop by. Watch your friend’s band play, see the community come together – get to see the experience. It goes for a great cause and it’s hard to argue with that.

“[Cancer] is something that, in the past year, has really affected the Middlebury community. It is something that touches everyone’s lives and, as we get older, we realize how many people’s lives it is really touching around us,” she added.

Contributions, however small, are accepted by teams and participants throughout the entire year. Visitors can donate at any time online or in person at Friday’s event. More information on the event can be found at go/relay.