Relay For Life Returns June 1, All Superheroes Invited

By Shannon Hicks

Newtown is preparing for its 9th Annual Relay For Life, which will return to Newtown Youth Academy (NYA) at Fairfield Hills on Friday, June 1. Relay is a 12-hour noncompetitive event that invites people of all ages and abilities to walk a course while raising funds and awareness for the battle against all forms of cancer. Donations benefit the American Cancer Society.

Whether a survivor, a current patient, someone who has lost a family member or friend to any form of the disease, or someone who knows someone affected by the disease, everyone seems to be affected by cancer. Relay For Life is an annual event that helps friends, families, neighbors, and even strangers to work together to raise funds, raise awareness, find strength, and hope to fight back.

Newtown’s Relay relocated last year to NYA, and has a course that covers a distance of approximately one-third of a mile. Walkers will be following the same course this year, which begins and ends in front of NYA at 4 Primrose Street, moves northwest along D.G. Beers Boulevard, turns left and goes across Primrose Street, then turns left again onto Simpson Street and continues back up to the main entrance of NYA. In the event of rain, all activities will move inside the NYA building.

Michelle Babyak, a breast cancer survivor, is serving as Newtown’s 2012 Relay chair. Cheryl Jablonowski, co-captain of this year’s team from Newtown Savings Bank, is Mrs Babyak’s co-chair.

Sue Rocca, a 13-year survivor of glioblastoma multiforme has stepped into the role of honorary chair.

For the first time, Newtown also has a Newtown Relay For Life Honorary Caregiver: Lorraine Santore. Mrs Santore lost her husband Bob, and her children Geoff and Ashley lost their father, to leukemia at age 42.

NYA will be closing to the public at 3 pm next Friday. Registration and Relay team arrivals will begin at 5 pm, and the opening ceremony will be at 7.

Participants are reminded, says Newtown Relay 2012 Chair Michelle Babyak, that they will need to clear the parking lot as soon as they finish unpacking their cars.

“You are allowed to use the parking space in front of your tent site to sell items,” she said.

The area being used for Relay — the lawns and parking area between Newtown Youth Academy and the southeast side of Newtown Municipal Center — will be closed to motor vehicles after 5. All parking for Relay attendees and guests will be elsewhere within Fairfield Hills.

The public invited to stay at Relay until midnight. After that time, the site is closed to the public, but registered participants continue their walking, making sure that at least one member of each team is on the track at all times.

Relay organizers and teams are ramping up activities and efforts to make this year’s cancer awareness and fundraising event a super time for all involved. This year’s Relay will have a superhero theme, with everything from superhero theme music and costumes to tent sites and activities involving numerous comic book, movie, and television do-gooders, and maybe even a few colorful villains.

Whether a registered participant or a visitor to Relay, all guests are invited to dress as a superhero.

Attendees who choose to not dress as a superhero may want to at least consider wearing some purple, the official color of Relay For Life.

A Survivors & Caregivers Reception will be the first formal event of this year’s Relay. The event is being held the night of Relay this year, a change from previous years when it was held on the eve of Relay.

Survivors and caregivers will be honored during a 90-minute reception inside NYA.

Meanwhile, the track will also be open and participants will begin their walking. The public is also invited to begin visiting team tents — which will be set up along the Relay course — where they can meet those who are participating in Relay, and offer donations for fundraising. In the past, teams have offered everything from temporary hair coloring, massages, and balloons to stress relieving dolls, clothing, raffles, and much more.

The Festival of the Arts For Relay, a special event that debuted in Newtown last year, will return. Students of Newtown High School art teachers Carol Skolas and Diane Dutchick will be displaying their art work, created especially for the event.

“It is so heartwarming to see how the students of our community express themselves through art, and show their support in the battle against cancer, which has touched all our lives in one way or the other,” said Reena Sahani, who has been helping to organize student-related involvement at Relay.

Newtown High School’s Interact Club will be displaying a banner made up of cloth squares signed by students and staff “to show their support for the fight against cancer,” said Shradha Sahani, president of the club.

Newtown Middle School students will be displaying their newest Quilt of Hope, continuing a tradition by the school’s students for the third year.

Food will be plentiful at Relay. Some teams will be selling food, beverages, and snacks at their sites to continue onsite fundraising. In addition, a concession stand will be open until midnight.

Alcohol and tobacco are prohibited from Relay, as are bicycles, scooters, and personal golf carts. Organizers are also requesting that pets be kept off the grounds unless they are assistance dogs.

For additional information visit Newtown’s 2012 Relay For Life website, www.relayforlife.org/newtownct.

Additional Highlights

The following are currently scheduled (times and themes are subject to change):

*5 pm: Relay For Life track and team sites open.

*5–8:45, Beautiful Lengths.

Hair stylists will be cutting and collecting hair for donation to Beautiful Lengths, a partnership between Pantene and ACS that turns hair into free, real-hair wigs for women with cancer. Donors must have at least eight inches of hair that can be cut in order to donate. Additional requirements apply; full details will be available onsite.

*5:30–7 pm, Survivors & Caregivers Reception.

*7 pm: Opening Ceremony & Survivor Lap.

*8 pm: Superheroes Lap.

All attendees will be invited to don their best outfits at this time. Team Cure-Age — Newtown Middle School students — has been tapped, said Mrs Babyak, to lead this special lap in outfits and capes that have been handmade for them by NMS student members of the club Labels Are For Jars. Students have been working under the guidance of art teacher Arlene Spoonfeather to create the capes.

After the Superheroes lap, the capes worn by the middle school students will be taken to the Team Cure-Age tent, where they will be rented out for the rest of the night. The rental “donations” will continue the teams’ fundraising efforts.

“We are hoping to see those special capes going around the lap all night,” said Mrs Babyak.

*8:30: Miss Relay Lap.

Men will be invited to don their favorite dresses, accessories, etc, for two laps around the course. All other attendees will be invited to “vote” for their favorite candidate through donations.

*9 pm, Luminaria Ceremony & Lap (sales of luminarias — white bags, which can be decorated and/or signed in honor or memory of someone, for a $10 donation — will be ongoing until 8:30).

For this lap, held after sunset, candles are lit inside all of the white bags, which have been placed around the track. All other lights are lowered, and two laps are done in silence while walkers remember loved ones lost to cancer as well as to honor those who have or continue to battle the disease.

*10:30 pm: Fight Back Ceremony.

According to RelayForLife.org, this event “is an emotionally powerful time that serves to inspire Relay participants to take action. The … ceremony symbolizes the emotional commitment we each make to the fight against cancer.”

*11 pm: Mass with Monsignor Robert Weiss.

*Midnight: track and grounds close to the public. Registered participants will continue with themed laps until 5 am.

*5 am: Final lap.