Relay for Life Invites All to Enjoy a Night of Fun and Remembrance

Local organizers are recruiting new teams for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, an all-night celebration June 24 on the track at Ocean City High School that honors the lives of people battling cancer, remembers those who have died of the disease and raises money in the search for a cure.

For participating teams, the basic premise is pretty simple: 10 to 20 people take turns walking or running around the track all night. It's the swirl of activity surrounding the walkers, a mix of fun and remembrance, that makes the event both unique and inspiring.

Picture 500 to 700 people camped out in tents and under canopies on the football field at the high school. A band, a DJ, a movie, Tarot card readings, yoga and Zumba sessions and a scavenger hunt are all part of the fun. An opening ceremony and a Luminaria Ceremony help participants remember loved ones lost.

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To register a new team: relayforlife.org/oceancitynj
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In just the third year of the local event, organizers hope to raise as much as $100,000. The Ocean City event brought in $85,000 and $80,000 in its first two years.

The wild success of the local event is largely the work of the recent Ocean City High School graduate who first conceived it and a friend who lost her mother to brain cancer: Brittany Ang and Allison Iudica.

As an 18-year-old freshman at Ursinus College, Ang participated in a Relay for Life at her school, and although she was little apprehensive at first, she found it "a wonderful experience."

It also got her thinking about her friend Allison, and together they decided not only that the event could work in Ocean City but that they would organize it.

That led to a meeting at which representatives from the American Cancer Society looked across the table at an 18- and a 19-year-old and said, in so many words, "Are you sure?"

Ang said the Cancer Society wanted to make sure she knew how big a commitment organizing such an event is. And in the coming months, she would discover just how big.

A competitive gymnast at Ursinus, Ang began commuting for monthly planning meetings that later became weekly meetings with a staff partner from the American Cancer Society.

Ang is quick to acknowledge the support she received from both family and community. Her father, Steven Ang, is a captain in the Ocean City Police Department, and her mother, Donna Ang, is a real estate agent in town.

"It's great that the town is so small, and we knew so many people in the area," she said. And with Iudica sharing contacts from her home in Upper Township, their network grew.

Through grueling hours of planning, "it never felt like a task," she said. And when she looked out over the field filled with tents and hundreds of people during that first event in 2009, she said "it almost felt surreal."

Now in her senior year and hoping to move on to dental school, Ang said her parents and Allison's older sister, Tracy, have taken an even larger role in planning the event.

"Without them, it wouldn't be able to happen," she said.

Donna Ang said she anticipates about 70 teams will participate, and about 26 are signed up already.

The only requirement to participate is $10 registration fee (per person), but each individual is encouraged to set a personal goal to raise $100 or more.

The event begins with a 6 p.m. opening ceremony on Friday, June 24, at which a cancer survivor speaks. The first lap of the walk is for survivors.

The Luminaria Ceremony takes place at dark around 10 p.m. with participants decorating candlelit bags honoring loved ones lost to cancer. The event also includes a slideshow of friends and family affected by the disease.

“So many people in our town have been touched by cancer,” Donna Ang said. “Steve’s brother just died of cancer. It kind of hit home this year.”

For more information on the event, call 800-277-2345.