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Dufferin Relay for Life organizing for 6th annual event, June 18

March 24, 2016   ·   0 Comments

Recent statistics show that last year alone, 196,900 Canadians were diagnosed with cancer. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, that means that every three minutes, one Canadian heard the words “you have cancer.”

With that knowledge in hand, Dufferin Relay for Life is organizing for its sixth annual June relay event, to be held at the Orangeville Agricultural Fairgrounds, to raise funds for research for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Terry Dole, Dufferin team coordinator, has been a part of the event in many aspects since the first year in 2010.

Since it began in 1999, Relay for Life has raised funds to support Canada’s most promising cancer research and vital services for people with cancer. Dufferin’s Relay for Life has raised over $500,000 in the six years since it began.

The relay is walked on a track at the  fairgrounds with the outside perimeter lined in campsites decorated in team colours and themes. The inside of the track holds family activities and games, including a bouncy castle, volleyball, face painting, and an arts and crafts area. There is a stage for ceremonies and bands, including in past years, an Orangeville high school band.

The event, which this year runs from 12 noon to 12 midnight, is filled “with shared stories, tears, laughs, games, food, family and friends,” says Mr. Dole.

A luminary ceremony, where the luminaries are purchased “in memory of loved ones that have both fought and won and those who have fought and lost their cancer battles,” lights the track “for the night as we walk and reflect on our memories,” he says.

Mr. Doel says he is involved with the relay “because cancer is everywhere and it doesn’t deserve to win.” He added, “Everyone has been effected in some way by cancer and you never know where it’s going to turn up next. It’s a terrible disease and cancer does not discriminate. Any age or sex. Through fundraising like this, cancer does not have to be a death sentence any more.”

He says the Dufferin Relay organizers “are striving to have as near to a $0 cost to run this event as possible. That is done through food donations and cash donations from many amazing local businesses and volunteers.” Food is organized by his company, Lavender Blue Catering, through donations from local restaurants and the Orangeville Lions Club and the Orangeville Optimist Club.

The best way to donate is to contact Dufferin Relay for Life by phone 519-939-3663 or email tdoel@msn.com. Donors can also go directly to the Canadian Cancer Society Dufferin Relay event page to sponsor a team, a person or make a general donation: convio.cancer.ca and enter Dufferin.

There is also a link on Facebook: Dufferin Relay for Life.” Volunteers are still needed for the day before and the day of the event; to volunteer phone 519-939-3663, or for volunteer information email: rfl_volunteers @outlook.com. Team information can be found at micheledufferinrelay@gmail.com.

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