Here is a different, but inspirational story about how a Relay For Life community banded together to continue the fight against cancer.  It is being posted as it was submitted, written by a staff member:

"I had the opportunity to attend the Berkeley Heights (BH) Township Council meeting on Wednesday evening and wanted to share with you something that was pretty amazing to be a part of.
To make a very long story short, a Councilman in BH, in an effort to appease a few residents, introduced a town ordinance that would no longer allow lights to be used at Governor Livingston High School.  This is the site of our BH RFL.  If passed, this ordinance, would have tremendous negative ramifications for the future of this RFL.

Along with the Co-Chairs of the RFL, Deirdre immediately began outreach to assess the situation, identify champions that could help us learn more about the background of why this ordinance was being passed, and developed a plan of action that would clearly articulate to the Mayor, and all council members the damaging impact of passing this ordinance.

What then transpired was the amazing part.  At 8pm, the meeting started.  A typical council meeting...10-20 people sitting in the audience...some just nosy, some wanting to be heard...
As the time went on the room started to fill with gray Hope shirts, purple Survivor shirts, green Committee shirts, White Participant shirts.  By 8:30 there were over 100 RFL volunteers there in support of continuing this event in BH.  The faces of the council were priceless.  The Mayor indicated that this was, by far, "the most well attended Council meeting ever".  
Many spoke,  too many to tell all of their stories, but a women talked about how RFL was intertwined into the fabric of BH, a student spoke about how RFL is something that has brought his family back together and how he would be willing to pay for the few complaining residents hotel rooms for that night so they could keep having RFL there.  The stories had a theme of survivorship, and the ACS helping families, and it bring the community together.  It was truly moving.

The reason I share this story is because I think it touches on soooo many things the ACS, and RFL are about.   The co-chairs stepping up and being heard, the instant mobilization of a community around RFL, the NEED for RFL to be in communities, volunteers telling their stories, amazing staff-volunteer relationships, etc, etc, etc...

Needless to say, the ordinance was not passed, and if anything, re-emphasized the importance of our work.  The council indicated that were starting their own team next year!

A huge thanks to Deirdre, the Co-Chairs, (Cathy Pitingolo, and Heidi Friedlnader), and all the residents of BH who came out to support this effort.

A proud ACS staff person,
Gene Derkack