I want to start a relay for life chapter at my college, Olivet Nazerene University. What do I do? Is there anyone else who is interested in this organaztion here? Where do I begin?
Don't forget to work on getting Colleges Against Cancer too! CAC and Relay go hand-in-hand on campuses and make the entire process easier! As mentioned, contact your local office and get a CAC application. I would also suggest working hard to try to get staff and faculty involvement right away- the committee should be students, but get an advisor who can help with a committee contingency plan after you're gone and graduated!
Also, getting a contact in each department or building on campus can be great for hanging posters, presenting to groups, and asking for teams and volunteers. Use the residence halls/dorms and the staff there to your advantage- they are usually required to do a certain amount of activities. Our Relay attendance tripled once we made a serious effort to get in with the residence hall RA's.
October 22, 2007 - 5:28pm login or register to post comments
rflvolunteer
Posts: 359
Joined: 2006-08-08
Tips for Starting A Relay
Here are some tips for starting a Relay:
1) Contact your local office and let them know of your interest... If you want to do a college/university or high school relay, you’ll have less time - about 6 months to plan it! It can certainly be done, but you'll want to get started...
1a) If you are a University or High School event, make sure you get permission to have a Relay on campus and get an idea of where you can hold it. University sites often fill up very early on, so secure a site as soon as possible.
2) Assemble a committee - Find people that want to be involved, that are connected and/or you trust, and ask nicely – give them meaningful responsibilities, and get it all going.
2a) On an university or high school campus, come up with a custom publicity plan - you'll need to post flyers in dorms, see if the all-university mailing system will send a note about Relay For Life looking for committee members and participants.
3) Get together a plan for your event - Put together lists of things that each committee needs to do... see the following link for a manual that tells you the things that the most successful events do!:
September 28, 2007 - 12:50am login or register to post comments
Relayuncc
Posts: 8
Joined: 2007-09-26
Relay University
Another thing you'll want to look into is attending the Relay University for your division. Its a weekend long training that is held in differant places every year. I have attened for the past two years and thats the most helpful thing i've done for my Relay. I am the Event Chair for Relay For Life at UNC-Charlotte, and every year I bring back new ideas from my new friends at Relay U.
September 26, 2007 - 11:52am login or register to post comments
Jeff Montegut
Posts: 273
Joined: 2007-04-16
Starting a Relay For Life event
The first thing you should do is contact your local American Cancer Society office. They will be able to help you from there.
To find out how to contact your local office, go to http://www.cancer.org and type your zip code in the box on the home page.
September 6, 2007 - 12:52pm login or register to post comments
Joined: 2007-08-28