Relay For Life of Greater Rochester

All Rochester area residents are invited to the 15th annual Relay For Life; June 22nd and 23rd at Hart Middle School. Relay For Life is a celebration of life, a celebration of health, a celebration of cancer survivorship and a way to pay tribute to those who have lost their battle with cancer.  The 24-hour event is a fun time for a great cause to help beat cancer!  Teams from corporations, clubs, hospitals, churches, and families all join the fun. Anyone can come walk, stroll, or run around the track. Events and activities for everyone will be taking place through out the 24 hour event.  Below is the event schedule, please note times are subject to change  9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. - Opening Ceremony and Team Lap; the event starts with out with a special welcome from our chairperson, Lisa Sage. Community leaders Rochester Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Cuthbertson and Rochester Hills City Council Member Michael Webber will kick off the event. The Cancer Cadets will be singing the national anthem and the Flag Ceremony will once again be led by VFW Post 3908. Immediately following the Opening Ceremony will be the Team Lap, where each team will take a lap together with their team signs and dressed in team shirts or other clothing or accessories which represent each team. This is also when the team photos will be taken.  9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – Live Music; “Group Therapy” will perform  10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.  – Registration for Survivors for the Victory Lap; Participating cancer survivors who have pre-registered will be given a commemorative T-shirt to proudly wear as they lead a special Victory Lap around the track in honor of their triumph over cancer. 10:45 a.m. – “Make a New Friend” Lap; during your lap, visit a different campsite, find someone you don't know and walk the lap with them 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. - Cancer Survivor Ceremony and Victory Lap for Survivors and Caregivers; Survivors and caregivers are invited to take a “victory lap” around the track.  This inspiring lap honors the courage of all who have defeated cancer. Cancer survivors (anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer) along with caregivers (whether presently or previously providing care) are encouraged to participate in the ceremony and  join together to walk the lap — unified in victory and in hope and in celebrating their strength, courage and commitment. It's an emotional example that Relay For Life is ensuring more lives are saved every year. Special speakers; Shelley Sochanski; a cancer survivor and Gary Sochanski; a caregiver, will share their stories just prior to the Victory Lap. After the walk, all the survivors and caregivers are invited back to the Survivor Tent to celebrate and enjoy a light lunch. They are also invited to remain and enjoy the festivities throughout the event. Again this year the “Handprint” victory banner will be available for survivors to place their hand print on the banner with their survivor anniversary date below their hand.  For those who have previously put their handprint on the banner, they will celebrate another year of survivorship next to their handprint, along with each of the previous years that they have participated in the Relay For Life.  11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - DJ Music; provided by Chase Blackmore 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. – “Birdie on a Perch”; An interactive game, led by “Team Shooting Stars for Hope” in the mid field. All players are asked to find a partner. Upon finding a partner, the facilitator should find some way of distinguishing who is the "birdie" and who is the "perch". They circle up in 2 circles one inner one outer, and then walk in opposite directions; facilitator calls out "birdie on a perch" partners must find each other and get the bird off the ground. Everyone is encouraged to participate. 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. – Live Music; The Hip Shots will perform 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. - Kids Zone Activities; This year’s theme will be an old fashioned Ice Cream Social. (The Kids Activity tent is set up to Eddie and the City Cruisers who will have ice cream for sale!) Crafts will be available including bead bracelets, ice cream coloring pages, Candy land and tattoos. There will also be old fashioned games including “Pin the Cherry on the Ice Cream,” a sundae ring toss, clothespin in the bottle, a bean bag toss and more! There will be prizes and snack bags for participating kids! Good, old fashion family fun for everyone!  1:00 p.m. - Beachwear Lap; wear you swimsuits, floaties, sunglasses, Hawaiian shirts, grass skirts, etc. and do your lap! 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. – Country Line Dancing; The Rochester Ballroom will be doing country line dancing with Joshua Sabage & Brenna Stephen  3:00 p.m. - Bubble Lap; blow bubbles during this lap, you can bring them with you or buy them onsite 3:00-3:15 School Recognition; participating school teams will be recognized 3:15 p.m. to 4:55– Live Auction; the live auction, led by Diane Keller, will include items donated by our teams including Team Eddie and the City Cruisers who will be offering a "Ride with a Firefighter” and a "Children's Birthday Party" that would be held at the Rochester Hills Fire Department, as well as many others.  5:00 p.m. to 5:15 – The Money Lap; for this lap, we are asking one team member from each group to be dressed up. Wear a dress, a suit or that outfit you only wore once! Be creative! The “best dressed” participants will collect money for their team from individuals as they go around the track!  5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. – Live Music; ALCIP will perform 6:00 p.m.to 6:15 p.m. - Frozen T-shirt contest; Hosted by the “Peanuts Gang” team, participants will be asked to figure out a way to wear their frozen t-shirt the fastest. 6:15 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  - DJ music; provided by Chase Blackmore  6:45 p.m. - Superhero Lap; dress up as your favorite Superhero or make one up!   7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. - Fightback Ceremony; led by Bob Grace, this ceremony symbolizes the emotional commitment we make to the fight against cancer.  In both celebrating the lives of our survivors and remembering and honoring those we've lost, we all should be motivated to do something to make sure no else has to face this disease.  Join us and make a commitment to do something - be it exercise, better eating habits, volunteering or scheduling a doctor’s appointment, etc. The Fight Back Ceremony inspires people to take action; taking a “Celebrate Remember Fight Back” flag which represents the commitment to save a life and signing the banner & pledge card which symbolizes the action that person will take to save a life.  Our event sponsors include Crittenton Hospital, Lori Henderson, McLaren, Meijer, Paint Creek Dentistry, Pixley Funeral Home, Potere Modetz, Rochester Area Jaycees and ThyssenKrupp. 7:30 p.m. to 7:50 p.m. – Irish Dancing; performed by The Motor City Irish Dance Company 7:50 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. – Live Music; Bucknell Music will perform 9:00 p.m. – Cancer Awareness Lap; wear purple as you take this lap!  9:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. –DJ music; provided by DJ Chase 9:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Luminaria Ceremony; lead by Cheryl Satterthwaite; to kick off the ceremony. It is during the Luminaria Ceremony, that the true meaning of Relay For Life hits home.  Luminaries light the path of the participants walk throughout the evening hours.  Decorated with pictures, decorations and loved ones names.  Honoring cancer survivors or in memory of those who have lost their battle with cancer.  At dusk, the Luminaria are lit around the track and participants take a silent lap around the track. It is a powerful testimony to why we do Relay For Life.  During the ceremony, Rochester Pride will be performing as well as Highland Bagpiper, Donald K. Ross. 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. DJ music and Karaoke, with Karaoke by Liz  11:00 p.m. – Glow In The Dark Lap; wear your neon colors, glow sticks, etc., to brighten up the night on this lap!  1:00 a.m. - Country Lap; for this lap where your cowboy boots, plaid, jeans, and hats! 3:00 a.m. - Funky PJ and Hat Lap; this one is self-explanatory!  7:00 a.m. to 7:15 a.m.  Sunrise Service; will be performed by Rick Drummer 7:15 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Pancake Breakfast; Breakfast will be prepared and served by both Rochester & Rochester Hills Fire Departments.   7:15 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. -DJ music  8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Closing Ceremony; this celebrates the accomplishments, successes, and efforts of the committee, team captains, participants, donors and volunteers.  Awards are presented to the winning teams and individuals and the grand total of money raised will be announced.  The event comes to a close as everyone takes a final lap together in a proud moment for a “community taking up the fight!”  This year’s event theme is “Relay-ville;”  individual teams will have their own campsites around the track decorate based on their “store-front” theme and many will also have fundraising activities taking place at their campsite though out the event; including: Shooting Star's “Tattoo Parlor”, Team Alex’s “AJ's Saloon” with kid friendly mixed drinks & "shots,"  Cancer Ninja's “Mexican Cantina”, TK Relayer’s “Book Store”, Team Kyle’s “Candle Shop,” Team Thrive’s “Cooling Station” with water balloons & Popsicles and the Rochester Juniors “Shop Around The Corner” with personalized glasses, knitted items, recipe books and more.  Make a difference and join the Rochester Relay.  Register as a survivor, start a team of your own, join an existing team, order a luminaria, or make a donation to this event, please visit Relay Online: www.relayforlife.org/rochestermi. Sign up today to become a part of the Relay For Life effort in our community and you too can fight back against cancer. Anyone interested in learning more about Relay for Life or in joining a team are encouraged to please contact Rachel Leas by phone at 248.663.3436 ext. 3436 or by email at rachel.leas@cancer.org or you can visit the website at www.relayforlife.org/rochestermi to get more information on the event, start a team online or make a donation. You can also follow the event on Facebook at “Relay for Life of Greater Rochester.”