RELAY FOR LIFE

Today I got an email from SCAD ICC (inter-club-council) providing my email information for my new club!!

It's offically offical! SCAD Relay! is up and running and our interest meeting is this Friday.

For those who don't know....

RELAY FOR LIFE is an over night event the celebrates cancer survivors, provides hope for those struggling with cancer, and supports those effected by cancer. It is honestly a year long process of fundraising and planning for it to be a successfull event. I've been participating in relay for life for 5 years now in a row. I've been a participant, co-captain, and captain. My senior year they wanted me to run the whole thing as the head committee member but I couldn't commit that much time.

I love relay for life! I think its fun and a great event for a great cause. Ovarian cancer runs on my mom's side of the family but I only know one family member that was actually diagnosed with it. Cancer is one of the diseases that I commend every person who deals with it. I could not imagine living with such a condition and I pray for a cure to rescue individuals with cancer.

I always had the idea of starting a club at scad but I was going to make a gospel choir to bring Christ into the student the body via music and also provide a free alternative for students with a voice. The SCAD ensemble here is expensive to join and you have to audition to get into it or else they refer you to vocal lessons which you have to pay for as well! My only issue would have been finding an advisor who could teach and help out vocally and for free.

I knew I wanted to participate in Relay for Life here in Savannah but I didn't even know if they had one. So over the break googled the American Cancer Society(ACS) and found the Chatham County branch, called  and shared my information with them and we've been in contact since. When school began I asked ICC how I could get SCAD involved with Relay and they didn't have a straight answer for me.

Beatriz is the ACS representative and deals with the colleges. We agreed a club at SCAD would help the numbers and impact SCAD has on the event. The ultimate goal is to get SCAD to become a large part of the Chatham County event to a point where SCAD wants to have their own event on campus!! This is a 4 year long goal that I hope to achieve by the time I am a senior. It excites me to think where we are now and where I know SCAD students can bring this. As artists we can do so much to help and raise money.

Whats even more exciting is that the money we raise does not only go to research but helps pay for all the FREE services ACS provides the community. Like transportation to treatment, survivor retreats, free wigs, make overs and confidence building events. SCAD students can defiantly help with all these and more.

We pitched the idea of the club at a Student Service Society meeting and got 18 people to sign up interested in participating. I only needed 10 signatures to start the club :)
I can't wait for Friday's meeting I'm praying I get a large turn out!

So I gotta SPEAK it into EXISTENCE! lol.

If you know anyone struggling with cancer, interested in relay for life or any of the services ACS has to offer: Google the American Cancer Society and find your nearest branch to learn how you can benefit form their services provided.