Students raise money in support of Relay for Life

The event is March 20 and March 21 at the Student Recreation Complex.

By Nathan Divers

Published March 19, 2010

The American Cancer Society challenged the MU Relay for Life Steering Committee to raise $48,000 within a 48-hour span.

Although the group fell short of its initial goal, raising approximately $6,000 in online donations in the two-day period, committee co-chairwoman Alexis Brown said they remain hopeful their final donation total will come out closer to their expectations.

"We didn't really expect to get the 48 in 48," Brown said. "It's a common thing for the American Cancer Society to challenge groups to do things like this. Since this is the biggest year we've ever had, they thought we might be up to the challenge."

Brown said the group based the amount of money raised Monday and Tuesday strictly on donations made online, not taking into account the fundraising done physically.

"There was definitely more money raised than what was put online," Brown said.

Gwen Daniels, the organization's spokeswoman and former Maneater staff member, said the time frame had a lot to do with the monetary shortcoming.

"We often get a lot of money in afterwards from corporate sponsors and we have a lot of people who just hadn't turned in their donations yet," Daniels said.

Daniels also said though the organization didn't reach its $48,000 goal in the time it had hoped, it still raised more money at this point than in previous years.

Aside from the $48,000 in 48 hours challenge, the organization has been sponsoring numerous other events and fundraising activities.

One means of raising money, called "Munchin' March," involved several local restaurants, such as the Heidelberg, Chili's, Shakespeare's Pizza, Jimmy John's, Applebee's, the Underground Café and Noodles & Co., hosting different events or offering special deals to their customers in an effort to help raise money for the relay.

"I haven't seen this much support from businesses in the past," Brown said. "In past years, we had a hard time just getting one, but this year we've had so much more support from the community."

Volunteers and participants in the relay also hosted a Boob Bake Sale in Speakers Circle where they sold cupcakes and cookies that resembled breasts to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.

All those efforts are leading up to the actual relay, which will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 20 through 6 a.m. Sunday, March 21. The event will be held in the Student Recreation Complex.

"The theme for the relay this year is 'Cancer: Game On,' so there will be lots of games and other fundraising events to help bring in some more money for the cause," Brown said,

Daniels said Saturday and Sunday's relay could bring in a lot of donations due to record-breaking participation.

"This year is very exciting because we have more teams and participants than we've ever had at Mizzou," Daniels said. "We're the largest fundraiser on campus and a lot of money will come in on the night of the relay."

According the American Cancer Association's Web site, MU has 142 teams, 1,482 individual participants and has raised $52,599.18. The numbers in all fields are continuously growing.

"The sky is the limit when it comes to an event like this," Brown said.