The American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay For Life of Pensacola has announced Vernon Stewart, Public Information Officer for the City of Pensacola, will be the Event Lead for the 2017 Relay season.
Molly Stroud, Community Manager at the American Cancer Society reached out to Stewart this past June, offering him the role of Event Lead. Stewart accepted the role and began enlisting suitable colleagues to fill other lead roles to complete the event core leadership group The group consists of Laura Bogan, Social Media Specialist and Photographer for the City of Pensacola, and Public Relations Director for the Blue Angels Association; three members of the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, Betsy Huhn, Jeremy Street, and Justin Paul; and active volunteer and former Department of Children and Families Operations Manager, Patricia Franklin.
Relay for Life is an annual event hosted by the ACS to raise money for cancer research. Cancer survivors, caregivers, volunteers, and community members will unite for the annual American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Pensacola to help save lives from cancer. The Relay For Life movement is the world’s largest fundraising event to fight every cancer in every community, with four million participants in 6,000 events worldwide in 2015.
“I am beyond honored and very excited to serve as the event chair for the Relay for Life of Pensacola. I look forward to creating an event which will honor our friends, families, and colleagues who have been affected by cancer,†Stewart said. “I encourage everyone to start or join a Relay for Life team so our community can create an exciting and engaging evening to benefit cancer research, programs for survivors, and community awareness. “
The City of Pensacola and the American Cancer Society will be hosting the Relay For Life event next year at the Vince J. Whibbs Sr. Community Maritime Park. These events usually have a wide variety of experiences that range from a survivors dinner to fun games to get you up and moving. Teams sign up to participate, either walking the track or running a variety of booths, fundraising for the cause. These teams are comprised of a multitude of different organizations, school clubs, or even just groups of friends.
A meet and greet mixer will be held on Sept. 12 at the Sanders Beach-Corinne Jones Resource Center from 5 pm to 7 pm. This meeting will be an opportunity for event leadership, team captains, veteran Relayers, newcomers and those that may be interested in meeting each other, exchange ideas and putting faces with names.
Focus will then transition into recruiting teams and team members and ways to begin fundraising for the community’s Relay For Life event. Teams can do most of their fundraising prior to the event, but they can also hold creative fundraisers at their camp sites at the event.
We are currently seeking committee members, chairpersons, sponsors and volunteers so if you would like to join the Relay For Life of Pensacola movement email Molly Stroud at Molly.stroud@cancer.org, or visit relayforlife.org/pensacolaFL. You can also visit Relay for Life of Pensacola on Facebook.
