BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ - Governor Livingston High School’s Student Movement Against Cancer (SMAC) club’s planning is underway for the annual Relay for Life event which will take place on Saturday, May 18 from 5 p.m.-12 a.m at The Grove at Connell Park in Berkeley Heights. This event empowers community members to raise awareness and fundraise for the fight against cancer. 

SMAC has been involved in fundraising for the annual Relay for Life event and has been part of the Event Leadership Team since 2020. Relay for Life funds both cancer research as well as survivor and caregiver support through the American Cancer Society. The funds raised from the event go toward research, hotels for survivors to stay in during treatment and a twenty-four hour hotline. 

Over the four years of SMAC’s involvement on the Event Leadership Team, the club has been empowering the next generation of students to be cancer fighters through fundraising for cancer research and spreading awareness regarding the cause. Each year, SMAC raises money for Relay for Life and helps with planning the event. 

Marissa Cagan, SMAC president and head of the Event Leadership Team, said, “First we set a date and organize the venue with the help of the Event Leadership Team. We then work to plan smaller details of the event and fundraise money for the event.”

To raise money for the event, SMAC has organized many fundraisers, including Chipotle fundraisers, the Sockathon, candy sales and candle sales in order to reach their goal of $2000. With a team of around fifty members, fundraising is a more difficult task for SMAC compared to fundraising for smaller Relay teams. 

Cagan said, “The more difficult part with larger teams such as SMAC is organizing for everyone to be in the same place for fundraisers and events prior and during Relay.”

At Relay for Life, both teams and individuals will gather at Connell Park to experience heartfelt ceremonies, activities and entertainment. These include cancer survivor and caregiver laps and a Luminaria Ceremony, which allow members of the community to come together in solidarity to celebrate survivors and hope for a cure. 

Cagan said, “The most meaningful part of Relay to me is probably the luminaria ceremony as it reminds us why we continue to fundraise and hope for a cure. When we crack the glow sticks during the ceremony, it allows all of us to recognize that we have all been touched by cancer in some way and that we are all fighting for the same goal.”

The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life brings the Berkeley Heights community together, including many teams made up of high school students, in a space where they all share a goal of fundraising for a cure to cancer. 

Cagan said, “Relay for Life gives a sense of community for those that have been impacted by cancer and it provides a way to fundraise and spread awareness about cancer.”

In her final year of advising the SMAC club at the high school, club advisor Jeannette Gates hopes for the club to continue to grow as a community of cancer fighters by working with the SMAC national board to plan events and fundraisers. 

“I do hope the club continues even when I am gone. Being able to bring SMAC here and continue to be a part of its mission is what really means the most to me,” Gates said.

Author : Ava Klinck, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Highlander, the Governor Livingston High School newspaper

Source Url : https://www.tapinto.net/towns/berkeley-heights/sections/giving-back/articles/governor-livingston-high-school-smac-club-prepares-for-relay-for-life

News Source : https://www.tapinto.net/towns/berkeley-heights/sections/giving-back/articles/governor-livingston-high-school-smac-club-prepares-for-relay-for-life