Philipstown’s First Relay for Life Event Takes Place June 4

 Whole community invited to participate in Mayor’s Park event

The kick-off for the first Philipstown Relay for Life event took place at the Chalet on the Hudson this past Sunday, March 27.  Event planning committee member Betty Budney describes the event and the reasons behind it: 

Relay for Life is about acknowledging cancer in our lives – those of us that have faced it and survived and fear its return, those caught up in it today, those that have lost the fight, and those caregivers called friends and colleagues and families who don’t know what else to do or say when told by someone they interact with that it’s called cancer. It’s about Philipstown — and crosses every demographic line and artificial boundary that finances, politics, gender, age and school districts create, without discrimination.  And a relay to bring it out into the open, to look at the faces of everyone impacted in Philipstown, is what June 4th will do. 

Relay is a volunteer driven fundraiser. It works by having community members form teams of 10+ members, and during the day of the event, one or more members of the team takes their turn walking around the track (we’re doing it at Mayor’s Park on Fair Street.)  Your group can picnic, or come and go during the day, but hopefully at least one team member is walking throughout the 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. period.  It’s not really 12 hours of walking — beginning walk is for cancer survivors, and the ending involves the lighting of luminaria, paper bags filled with sand and a candle, with a message about a friend or family members who either survived or lost their cancer fight. 
       Fundraising is simple — go to www.relayforlife.org/philipstownny and start a team online. You can name your team whatever creative or silly thing you want, and the day of the event your team name will be on your t-shirts. Members of your team would go to your Relay Team Page, and join your team as individual members, fundraising for the group, but also individually as part of the team. An example can be found here. 
       Budney says that an easy fundraising method is for each team member to:

• Put in $20 of your own
• Ask two friends for $10
• Ask two relatives for $10
• Ask your doctor, dentist, or financial advisor for $10
• Ask two people from your church, gym, or association for $10
• Ask your neighbor, co-worker, hair stylist, or barber for $10

You’ve just raised the $100

For more information visit www.relayforlife.org/philipstownny or contact Betty Budney at 845-265-3508.