RIT’s Relay For Life goes virtual this year for American Cancer Society

Relay For Life, the largest annual student-run fundraiser at Rochester Institute of Technology, was preparing for its eighth year to raise more than $100,000 for the American Cancer Society when the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to change plans.

“Despite all of these challenges, cancer patients’ fights don’t stop because the world is put on hold,” said event chairman Daniel Rouleau, a fifth-year industrial and systems engineering major from Trumbull, Conn.

So instead of nearly 1,000 people participating in a 12-hour walking marathon in the Gordon Field House, this year’s Relay For Life will be a five-day online event that will provide entertainment, speakers, donation challenges, celebrations of life and remembrances of those who lost their battles with cancer.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. Monday and be held at 6 p.m. each day through Friday next week, with each day having a theme: opening ceremonies; celebrating ceremonies; honoring those who have died from cancer; those who are currently fighting back; and closing ceremonies with a grand reveal of the amount raised.

Challenges will be held, videos showing exercise or yoga positions will be shown and participants will be asked to get involved and show how they’re relaying where they are.

“We want to prove that they don’t have to be here in person to be involved,” Rouleau said.

Captioned videos will be shown from several performing arts clubs, including RIT Encore, Vocal Accent, RIT Game Symphony Orchestra and Brick City Singers. And several speakers are lined up, including professors and professionals from the community who will talk about cancer and, in some cases, how it has impacted them.

Sponsors who had agreed to support the in-person Relay For Life will also be recognized.

Rouleau said more than 500 people, including several fraternities and sororities, have registered for this virtual edition of Relay For Life. More than $50,000 has already been pledged.

And to help promote this year’s virtual Relay For Life, a video was made and distributed on social media.

“We’re still encouraging people to register. We’re trying to get anyone we can,” Rouleau said.

A video streaming competition between RIT’s eSports Team and other colleges is also helping raise money.

“It’s a very important cause,” Rouleau said. His mother, Lynn, died from pancreatic cancer in 2018. “At some point in our lives, cancer will have an impact on us or someone we love. We’re trying to increase awareness and help support cancer research and cancer support programs.”

Cancer survivors and those currently fighting cancer are invited to get involved and may contact Rouleau at dnr6911@rit.edu for more information about survivor-focused portions of the event.

About 30 students are members of Colleges Against Cancer at RIT, which organizes Relay For Life. Other than this event, students also volunteer by cooking dinners for cancer patients and caregivers at Hope Lodge in Rochester.

“We try to lessen the impact and support everyone who has had to endure a diagnoses,” Rouleau said.

To learn more about Relay For Life, to donate or to register, visit www.RITrelay.org.