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SOMERS, N.Y. People around town are beginning to pack their picnic baskets, gather their sleeping bags and pull their tents down from the attic for Somers second annual Relay for Life, sponsored by the American Cancer Society.
Teams have been forming for months, sponsors are lined up and logistics have been finalized. The event begins Friday at 5:30 p.m. with a Survivor and Caregiver Reception in the Somers Intermediate School cafeteria. Opening ceremonies will follow at 7 p.m.
The teams will begin walking their laps after that. The relay will continue nonstop until the closing ceremony at 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Team members take turns walking laps around the track all night long because cancer never sleeps.
We have 10 more teams than we had last year at this time, said Carol Cirieco, who co-chairs the event with Somers Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy. Last year we raised $115,000. We won the prize for most successful rookie relay event. This year, were hoping to do even better. John Jay is having its first relay event but competition is good. We want to beat them.
While family members and friends are putting in their paces, there will be food, raffles, face-painting, inflatables and other activities. The Somers Middle School Fife and Drum will perform, and the Somers Intermediate School will form a chain of hope. "Everyone participates, it really is a community event," said Cirieco. "There's nothing else like it in Somers."
The lighting of the luminarias takes place at 10 p.m. Each candle-lit bag that lines the track is personalized to honor individual survivors or loved ones lost to cancer.
It's not too late to join the event. For more information, visit the website for Relay for Life.
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