Thirty teams and nearly 200 people participated in SJC Long Island’s seventh annual Relay for Life event Saturday in the gymnasium of Danzi Athletic Center.
St. Joseph’s College students, faculty, staff and family members celebrated cancer survivors and caregivers, while honoring those loved ones lost to cancer.
SJC’s Dance Club was one of the 30 teams in attendance at Relay for Life.
SJC Long Island’s Relay for Life is the largest student-led fundraiser of the year at the campus. This year’s relay raised $27,700.
“Being a transfer student, Relay has given me more opportunities than I could ever ask for,” said three-year Event Lead Briana Henn, a therapeutic recreation major who expects to graduate in December. “Relay brings the students of St. Joseph’s College together and helps make a difference for those who have been affected by cancer. I am forever thankful for the friendships I made throughout my time being a part of Relay For Life.”
Henn was part of the College’s 2016 Relay for Life, which set an event record by raising more than $30,000.
The money raised at Relay for Life events goes to research, programs, testing and much more to help find the cure for cancer. Programs include Road to Recovery, where cancer patients receive rides to treatments from volunteers; Look Good. Feel Better., where women receive makeup lessons and wigs to help them physically and mentally cope with the effects of chemotherapy; and The Hope Lodge, where cancer patients and their caregiver can stay for free during treatments so they are close to medical centers.
“It has been an honor to work alongside such amazing and dedicated people in making this event a successful one,” said first-year Event Lead Michelle DiBenedetto, who’s been on the Relay Committee for three years. “We are so fortunate to have so many helping hands in our community. We are also surrounded by people who want to make a difference and help those who have been affected by cancer.
“I have been inspired by this whole journey with the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life, and am so pleased with all the work we have done to help others.”
For more information about SJC’s Relay for Life, email sjcrelay@gmail.com.
