Relay for Life raises record $147,027

DUNROBIN – The West Carleton Secondary School (WCSS) Relay for Life event is easily the West Carleton community’s biggest fundraiser and it is  pulled off entirely by high school students.

While the fundraising takes months, the Relay for Life event is held all day at the school shining awareness on the awful disease cancer as well as the fact it is not a death sentence. The school runs the event every second year, and it is entirely run by the school’s students. Not only is it West Carleton’s biggest fundraiser by far, it is one of Canada’s top Relay for Life fundraisers too. This year the organizing committee raised a record $147,027 for cancer research, smashing the school’s previous record, set only two years ago.

On Friday, May 30, the school shuts down to host the all-day (and most of the evening) event on the school’s track. The day is kicked off with speeches from the committee and this year’s honourary survivor Kathleen Daly.

Daley, an educator at the school, began her cancer journey at age 16 in 2010.

“I noticed a lump while adjusting my bathing suit,” Daley told the crowd. “Two years later, I noticed it was still there. It turned out that one lump was many lumps.”

From there, doctors diagnosed the lump as cancerous and Daley juggled treatment with school and the rest of her life. In January 2013 she had surgery to remove the lump.

“I still have my lumps checked,” Daley said. “It’s part of my normal health routine. I never thought of myself as a survivor until two years ago at West, during that year’s Relay for Life event.”

Now Daley, 29, is an important part of the West community and is expecting her first child with her husband who started out as her 18-year-old self’s boyfriend.

“I don’t know what my story would be if I didn’t get my lump checked,” she said. “I relay for this little girl inside me. Relay for Life is about creating more survivors.”

Following the speeches the Relay for Life begins with the Survivor’s Lap where several community members who have battled cancer and won, lead the honourary lap followed by the entire student body.

After that, the fundraising teams enjoy the day, with one member of the team constantly on the track doing a lap or two, and the rest of the team enjoying the day, in to the evening, with their fellow classmates, with live entertainment, again provided by members of the student body, played from the stage throughout the relay.

During a (relatively) quiet time during the event, Relay for Life committee fundraiser Chelsea Pilgrim and the top student fundraiser Yaseen Hammoud spoke with West Carleton Online to share why they get involved in this event and what it means to them.

Yaseen is a Grade 11 student who raised about $3,500 himself for this year’s event, making him the top fundraising student.

“It started off, right from the get-go, I wanted to make as many connections as I could, because I knew if I stuck with just people who are close to me, I might not reach those who feel this cause much more personally and might be more willing to put more in to it,” Yaseen said about how he achieved that incredible fundraising goal. “I got my parents and other friends and loved ones to share a link and spread it out and just ask anybody if they were willing to donate. Even if it was a small amount, because even a small amount adds up.”

The reputation of WCSS’ Relay for Life event was enough to inspire Yaseen to put in a massive fundraising effort.

“This event only comes around every two years, and I missed it last time,” the Morgan’s Grant resident said. “It’s not every day you get the chance to fundraise with an actual organization. You can fundraise by yourself; however it doesn’t seem as reliable or trustworthy to others. So, the fact I had the chance to be able to gather money and support such an important cause with such an amazing organization was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss, and I wanted to make the most of it. You never know when you’ll have another chance to make such a big difference in people’s lives.”

Chelsea, a Grade 12 student, is this year’s Relay for Life committee sponsorship captain.

“We started working maybe three months ago,” Chelsea said of preparations for this year’s massive event. “We were meeting every week, once a week after school. This week we were meeting pretty much every day.”

Chelsea says she was inspired by participating in the 2023 event as a student, and wanted to do even more this year.

“Some of my friends were part of that committee and it just seemed like something that I would like to be a part of too,” she said. “They accomplished a lot, and it was fulfilling for them and they had fun while doing it. I just thought, why not just go the extra step of helping to organize it and make the event even better than it has been.”

The hard work paid off as this year’s Relay for Life was record-breaking.

“It feels really good,” Chelsea said. “It feels like a real accomplishment. We’ve been working on fundraising. It just shows how much of a community West is, too. Usually, we don’t have as many Grade 9s participating but we had every single grade participating pretty much, this year. It just feels really cool, and it’s just really nice everyone’s come together as a school for this cause.”

While the hard work of fundraising comes first, now is the time for fun and awareness.

“We have the stage for the day,” Chelsea said. “So, we’re going to have student performers throughout the day, there’s dancers, singers. There’s going to be fun events. We’re going to have a sponge race, we’re going to have some inflatable games, so there will be entertainment with organized games. The whole point is for people to be walking all day, so that will be going on. Student teams get a string and with every lap they do, they get a bead, so that’s something people will be looking forward to – having the longest bracelet. We have a bunch of food trucks here. There’s face-painting, Henna tattoos, anything you can think of. It goes right to 9:30 p.m. so it’s 12 hours long.”