RELAY FOR LIFE

University of Oklahoma

Carolyn Taylor

JMC 2033- 902

Public Relations

Newsletter for OU Students

Spring 2016

Sources:

1. Zak Anderson Expert.....580-336-7881

Event Chairman
2. Rachel Keffer Expert..281-352-6471
ACS Advisor
3. Karly Weller Living the experience...936-522-8846
Executive Committee Member
4. Hope Wieden Living the experience......580-484-2036
Executive Committee Member and Cancer Survivor
5. Salima Harun Living the experience......405-314-4968
Alpha Phi Omega Member and Fundraiser
6. Ou.edu/relay Documentary
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Relay Celebrates 17
Years on Campus

Relay for Life began with the steps of just one man, Dr. Gordy Klatt. According to ou.edu/relay, in 1985,

Klatt walked and ran around a track in Tacoma, Washington, for 24 hours, ultimately raising over $27,000 for

the American Cancer Society in the process. Since then, many have joined him in the fight against cancer as

Relay for Life has been able to raise over $5 billion worldwide.

The University of Oklahoma had its first Relay for Life event in April 1998. Since then, Relay for Life

has grown immensely, and was able to raise a wopping $178,902.74 in 2015. To those who participate, this is

more than just a number. It represents the effort and persistance that goes into organizing this event, and shows

the impact just one dollar makes, let alone 178,000. This event changes lives, and theres no greater satisfaction

than that at the end of the day.

Rachel Keffer, OU Alumni and current American Cancer Society (ACS) Advisor, said she has fond

memories of when she exeperienced her first Relay for Life event at OU, and that it was much smaller than

what it is today.

I specifically remember buying a tent the day of to set up that night and just hanging out with my friends

until the wee hours of the night, she said.

Keffer also said the partipation in the event has definitely increased over the years, as well as the events

publicity, all thanks to the tenacity of the current executive committee.

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Students Plug-In to
Relay for Life
This academic year, there are 125 members on OUs Relay for Life executive committee. Its a great way

to get plugged in on campus and meet new people. Karly Weller, a social studies education freshman and

executive committee member, said she encourages people to get involved with Relay.

Everyone on exec grows to be friends, and its cool how raising money for such a good cause is actually

a lot of fun, she said. I love being part of a team. Everyone on exec has a reason why they relay, and we all

really care about what were doing.

We encourage everyone to apply to be on the executive committee, but if you are not selected, that

doesnt mean you cannot be a part of the event! Sign up, create a team, raise money with your friends and join us

in the fight against cancer! We need all kinds of the help during the year. Committee members and participants

each play a key role in the outcome of the event.

There are several ways to get involved to join us in the fight. Our executive team is on the South Oval

many times throughout the year, and we encourage you to come out and see what we have going on. We also

have fundraising opportunities leading up to the day of Relay for Life.

For example, during our 19K in 19K fundraising challenge this year, OU students exceeded

expectations and raised more than $23,000 in just 19,000 seconds! All of the money we raise benefits the

American Cancer Society, which works to help cancer patients in many ways as they battle their way through

this terrible disease.

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Students Fundraise for

a Cure
There are many ways we raise money throughout the year, and we love seeing our teams get creative with

their own fundraisers as well. A lot of participants use social media to receive donations from family and friends,

including Hope Wieden, HES junior and executive committee member.

I do a lot just on social media by sharing [my fundraising link] with family and friends, Wieden said. I

also send some emails just by asking my family [to donate].

When you sign up for Relay, you are given your own personal fundraising page which you can personalize

with pictures, write about why you relay and set a fundraising goal for yourself. Ou.edu/relay makes it easy for

you to copy and paste your link to your social media pages so you can share it with as many people as possible.

Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity on campus, recently held its own fundraiser on the South Oval. Its

members set up water pong and allowed anyone to play as long as they donated towards Relay. They had prizes

for students who played including gift cards to restaurants and stores on campus.

Salima Harun, an APO member, said they ended up raising $45 from their water pong fundraiser, adding

to their $1,000 goal.

Relay for Life held a similar fundraiser during the Easter season, but instead of having students donate

money to play water pong, Relay had students donate to Hunt for a Cure by participating in an egg hunt. When

a player opened an egg, the paper slip inside revealed what they had won.

Prizes consisted of Relay for Life stickers, gift cards and more. Rachel Keffer agreed the fundraiser was a

huge success and said it was a great way to spread the word about the event.
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What Relay Means to

Fighters and Survivors
Relay for Life works to benefit those who have to fight cancer. We want them to know they are never

alone by making the effort to have an impact on their lives. Hope Wieden, a cancer survivor herself, described

what Relay means to her and why she is so passionate about this event.

I like the fact that I get to give back to something that has affected me and benefited me, she said. It

just puts a purpose behind something that was really bad and scary, and makes a positive impact on something

that Ive endured.

Wieden said when she was 10-years-old, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and went

through six months of chemotherapy, allowing her to become cancer free. She said she got invited to her first

Relay for Life event by an OU student whenever she finished her treatments. Wieden also said she had the

opportunity to walk the survivor lap to kick off the event, which is something survivors do each year.

Dealing with [cancer] myself opened my eyes to how other people deal with [cancer], and it really put

everything into perspective for me.

At the time, Wieden said she had no idea she would end up as an OU student. As a freshman, she said she

remembered seeing stuff about Relay for Life and realized she had been a part of it before.

That year, I just signed up and participated and tried to raise as much money as I could, she said. Then,

the next year I was like, Im going to try to be on exec! and now Ive been on exec for the last two years.

Relay for Life has impacted several people, including the children staying at The Toby Keith Foundation

in Oklahoma City. This year, the executive committee visited the facility and allowed the children who were

battling cancer to forget the illnesses they were fighting. For the first time in a while, they had to opportunity to

be kids, not kids with cancer.

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Relay Wrap-Up
Throughout the 2015-2016 academic year, Relay for Life has held countless events and fundraisers to

encourage people to sign up and make a difference in the lives of former and current cancer patients. Along

with our 19K in 19K fundraising challenge, Hunt for a Cure fundraiser and visiting the Toby Keith

Foundation, we have also won several awards for our commitment to raise money year-round.

Zak Anderson, biology senior and Relay for Life event chairman, named some of the awards we have

won.

We are the No. 1 Relay [for Life] event in the state of Oklahoma. We also placed first in the campus

recruitment challenge, which is something weve won for two years in a row, and placed fourth in the

fundraising challenge, both of which consisted of over 600 campuses, Anderson said.

Anderson said he wanted to stress that its not about the competition or winning certain titles, instead, it

serves as a way to give back to the community. These competitions act as a motivation for OUs Relay for Life

event to fundraise and get people involved.

We have doubled in participants, teams and total money raised in the past two years, Anderson said,

and that alone blows my mind.

At the beginning of the year, Rachel Keffer, Anderson and the team of vice chairs set high goals for the

executive committee to reach. We wanted to be on the South Oval many times throughout the year so we could

get as many students as possible interested and informed about Relay for Life.

Our team of executive committee members are truly committed to this event and Anderson said its been

incredible to see the impact it has had on this campus.

It is just so cool to me to see thousands of OU students come together and support each other in this

noble cause year after year, Anderson said.