Relay raises $42K

Fundraiser nets record numbers for charity

March 31, 2008 —

by Adam Baudoux

Relay for Life participants shattered a $35,000 fundraising goal by producing over $42,000 for the American Cancer Society. According to Student Association President Jeremiah Stanghini, it is likely that Relay '08 has raised more money than any previous student-run fundraiser at SVSU.

Although fundraising efforts were shy of meeting the $50,000 goal set by the Student Association's Relay for Life committee, Angela Seeley, the committee's co-chair, was very pleased with the results.

"Of course we were bummed out because we didn't meet our committee's goal," the occupational therapy senior said, "but the goal that the Relay for Life organization sets is figured statistically and based on last year's results and how much they want us to grow, and we blew that goal out of the water."

Last year, participants raised about $27,000. Seeley estimates that by the end of the week prior to the Relay, about $25,000 had been raised. This amount included all of the money raised by participants by that point, as well as funds raised from gas pumping, intersection collections, bake sales, and t-shirt sales among other small events.

"At that point, we weren't sure if we would meet either of our goals, so I was really happy by the end of the night when we figured out our total," Seeley said. "I think it went really, really well. The big key was that we started early and got a lot of people registered. We had only raised about $7,000 prior to the Relay last year."

Co-chair Becky Griffin agreed that the final fundraising total was reflective of the committee's efforts to begin planning raising money early. "We also had some amazing people on the committee, and some amazing team captains," Griffin said.

"It was a really successful event," Seeley said. "A lot of people came out and showed support, and the carnival theme was a big hit."

Seeley sends a special thanks to Dining Services, who donated over $5,000 in food for participants at the Relay.

Registration for the event went paperless this year, as 51 teams of 414 individuals kept track of their fundraising online at the American Cancer Society-sponsored SVSU Relay for Life Web site. Online participants logged $15,890.85 of raised funds prior to Relay night.

The Student Nurses Association (SNA) was among the top ranked teams as they logged $2,829 on their online team account.

SNA team co-captain Torrey Freese explained her groups fundraising process. "We had a large group, so I asked everyone involved to raise a minimum of $100," the nursing senior said.

"We also sold nursing t-shirts this winter and donated the profits to our team. We had two individuals who raised a large amount for us: Rebecca Uhl, who was able to secure a sponsorship from Ohio Specialists for $400 for the team, and Shelby Dunklee, who raised over $300."

The South East Community Students team was also among the top competitors. The team put on the Amazing Race, attracting participants by giving away Nintendo Wii's to the winning team. Team captain Stuart Chipman organized the event by recruiting two-person teams through Facebook and donated all of the proceeds to Relay.

Elementary education major Meggan Watts topped the Relay site's individual contributors list prior to the event raising $1,000 for her Catholics on Campus team.

"I raised most of my money online using the Relay Web site and sending e-mails to family and friends," she said. "I contacted about 30 people and received 18 donations. I am very excited about the results I received."

Freese, Chipman, and Watts were all proud of their teams' contributions and agreed that their money was going to a great cause.

"This is a wonderful cause and a great event put on by SVSU to bring the community together to raise awareness and, of course, money," Freese said.