Relay For Life of Front Royal – Hundreds to gather at Skyline High School with record fundraising to fight cancer

Photo courtesy of event website: www.Relayforlife.org/warrenva

Relay For Life of Front Royal has amazing teams fighting cancer. Team ‘A Ray of Hope’ has already raised close to $57,000, and Team ‘Family Affair’ has raised $30,665. This record fundraising is, in large part, thanks to the weekly American Cancer Society bingo games at the Front Royal Fire and Rescue Hall every Wednesday evening. Relay For Life of Front Royal has already exceeded its original $100,000 goal to more than $185,000 goal with more to come!

Front Royal also has a new #GoldTogether for Childhood Cancer team honoring 8-year-old Orion Perry, who is battling leukemia and attends Hila J. Barbour Elementary School. Rita Werner, a 2^nd grade teacher at the school, organized the team, which is not only fundraising but also running children’s activities, games and a bounce house at the Relay. #GoldTogether teams honor children with cancer and raise funds to support childhood cancer research, support services, awareness and prevention. Close to 300 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer annually. New this year, the American Cancer Society is partnering nationally with #GoldTogether to fight childhood cancer.

Relay team members take turns walking a track continuously from 4 p.m.- midnight, since cancer never rests. Meanwhile entertainment, games, music, Zumba and activities take place to energize participants. Relay For Life is the signature fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, staffed and coordinated by volunteers in more than 20 countries worldwide with 5,200 events. Relays feature a Survivors Lap and Luminaria ceremony after sunset in which participants walk a track circled by glowing Luminaria with names of loved ones lost to cancer and those fighting cancer. Luminaria are $10 each.

Although the cancer death rate has dropped by 27% from its peak in 1991, ACS estimates that 11,060 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in American children, from birth to age 14, in 2019. In that same age group, 1,190 deaths from childhood cancer are expected to occur in 2019.

• WHAT: American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay For Life of Front Royal is a FREE event. All welcome!
• WHO: Rita Werner, Relay For Life volunteer, organizer of #GoldTogether team honoring pediatric cancer patient Orion Perry (see below) and teacher at Hilda J. Barbour Elementary School.
• WHEN: Saturday, June 8, 4 p.m. to midnight | Opening ceremony at 6 p.m. followed by the Survivors Lap. Luminaria: 9:30 p.m.
• WHERE: Skyline High School, 151 Skyline Drive, Front Royal, VA