More than 50 teams of students set up booths and tents around the impromptu walking track built by Lee Field Friday night to show their support for the Relay For Life, an event designed to raise money for cancer research.
Fraternities, sororities, campus clubs, Student Government and others had booths and representatives at the event. These booths were meant to raise money above and beyond what had already been raised before the event. The student groups donated the fund they raised to the American Cancer Society.
While the event was canceled before midnight due to inclement weather, event coordinators and teams raised more than $54,000 from online fundraising and sponsorships before the event began, according to Madison Dixon, senior in psychology and Relay For Life co-chair.
The N.C. State Relay event raised more money prior to event than any other college Relay, according to Dixon.
“The goal is $56,000, and we’re already almost there,” Dixon said, prior to the beginning of the Relay.
Alyssa Johnson, a senior in elementary education, built and operated a booth along with Alpha Psi Omega, a theater fraternity. The group sold lottery tickets and lollipops, as well offered face painting, magic shows and palm-readings throughout the night.
Johnson, who said she took part in the event for multiple years, said she participates because Relay’s mission is one that hits home.
“My mom is coming tonight. She is a cancer survivor; this is a cause close to my heart,” Johnson said.
Matt Brokaw, a junior in construction engineering management and president of N.C. Skate, said people from outside the club who had been affected by cancer approached him and asked him and his club to participate in the Relay.
Prior to the event, the club raised $700, and built a half-pipe skate ramp near Sullivan Hall. Brokaw and his club hosted a skate session and barbeque at the ramp where they raised several hundred dollars.
Also represented at the Relay was the Asian Student Association. Mischa Tobar, freshman in political science and ASA member, said the group—like many other organizations at the event—planned to supply food and fun for participants, such as selling fried candy bars and also provided face painting.
ASA pitched a tent behind their booth, and several members planned to stay all night, according to Tobar.
“For Relay for Life, people constantly walk around the track. Cancer doesn’t rest, so you don’t rest,” Tobar said. ”You just keep going.”
To kick off the Relay, cancer survivors in attendance made a “survivors lap.” The second lap consisted of survivors and caregivers. All attendees fell in on the third lap to show their support.
Sophomore in civil engineering Ethan Jordan walked the survivors lap. Diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma last March, Jordan said he has had six rounds of chemotherapy, the last of which he received three weeks before the beginning of this semester.
“People take things for granted a lot. Once you go through something like I went through, it changes your mindset,” Jordan said. “You appreciate the little things a lot more.”