Hey everyone.  I'm the event chair for the Eau Gallie High School Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society.  In the surfing, fishing, & overall outdoor community that we all live and play in, it's hard to imagine not being affected by cancer either personally or through a family member or loved one.  That being said it is very important that we find ways to spread the awareness of cancer and prevention.  The American Cancer Society provides and excellent fun community event to raise funds and awareness to this terrible disease called Relay For Life.  Relay is basically an 18 - 24 hour event typically held at local high school tracks...in the case of the North Melbourne Relay, it is being held at Eau Gallie High School here in Melbourne May 9th & 10th.  The idea is that individuals from workplaces, schools, clubs, churches, and other organizations come together to form teams of 10-12 members.  Each person on that team takes turns walking or running around the track in remembrance of someone they know who has lost the battle to cancer or celebration of someone who has won the battle.  It costs $100 to officially register a team with it being suggested each member on that team try to raise $100 individually.  While at the event teams are encouraged to set-up campsites to gather and socialize and make it a true community event.  This also provides another opportunity for fundraising at the actual event.  In the past teams have sold food and beverage concessions, last year I even saw one team selling foot massages to walkers for $1...gross but funny, original, and surprisingly a very good fundraising activity for that team.

A common misbelief that I think a lot of people hold is that the ONLY thing to do is to walk.  For those of you who haven't heard, the '07-'08 committee has elected to hold a "Carnival" theme event.  Planned activities and entertainment include face painting, bounce houses, live music, etc...  In addition to the activities planned by the committee, teams are encouraged to decorate their campsites or dress up to go along with the Carnival theme of the event.  Prizes will be awarded and/or recognition will be awarded to best decorated team campsite, best costume, highest fundraising dollars by a team, and more!  We very much want people to stick around throughout the night and enjoy the activities and each other.

There are several ways that you can get involved.  First is to form a team as mentioned above.  You can easily sign up by visiting http://www.events.cancer.org/rflnorthmelbournefl  We are also soliciting sponsorships and monetary or other donations that could be raffled off or given away in revenue generating contests.  If you or your company/organization is interested in providing sponsorship please shoot me a message and I'd be happy to get an information packet to you.  A third option to being involved with this event is in the form of entertainment.  We will have a stage set up for presentations, but also use heavily for entertainment throughout the day and evening.  If you are in a band or any other type of performing group and would like to perform for a brief period we would love to have you....please shoot me a message and we'll work out the logistics and scheduling with you.

We have team captain and committee meetings at the Eau Gallie High School once a month starting at 6:00 pm if you would like to come check us out.  The next meeting is Thursday March 20th  I also created a Myspace page that I send out updates and other information periodically.  The web address is http://www.myspace.com/eghsrelay  Feel free to check it out or join it to keep up with the current events.

If you have any other questions please feel free to shoot me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you are able to participate in some way!