No one shows at Relay For Life meeting

The seats were empty last night at the UAW Hall in Wallaceburg for a meeting organized by the Canadian Cancer Society.

Only one reporter and the organizers were on hand for the meeting, which was set to be an open forum to discuss Wallaceburg’s Relay For Life event moving to Chatham in 2015.

“Unfortunately we had only one person attend and he was” a reporter, said Cindy Vinall, manager of the Canadian Cancer Society Chatham-Kent branch. “Our hope was to meet with the Wallaceburg community and provide them with an opportunity to ask questions and hear all of the very exciting changes to Relay For Life 2015.”

The Sydenham Current broke the story on Saturday that a fifth straight Relay For Life event would not be happening in 2015.

Here is our full story.

Vinall said the Cancer Society plans on helping Wallaceburg residents attend the event next year, which will take place at Chatham-Kent Secondary School on Saturday, June 13, from Noon to midnight.

“We will work with the people from the Wallaceburg area who wish to participate in Relay For Life but are challenged by transportation,” she said. “We are very open to the possibility of securing shuttles to assist.”

Vinall also shared a letter/speech with the Sydenham Current, that she had planned on reading at the meeting on Tuesday.

Here is the letter in full:

Over the past four years, we have fought back against cancer at the Relay For Life event in Wallaceburg. In that time, we have raised approximately $180,000 to fund research, provide support services to local patients, promote healthy lifestyles and advocate for policies that protect our health.

We could not have raised this inspiring amount of money and done this great work to fight cancer without the support of our generous event participants, donors, volunteers, sponsors and staff. Thank you!

In the last ten years, the fundraising landscape has changed considerably. The needs of our communities have evolved and fundraising events have become increasingly competitive. As a result, some of our events, such as our Relay For Life, have not been meeting revenue goals for a number of years.

At its peak, Relay For Life raised $20 million for the Canadian Cancer Society in Ontario alone. In 2014, we raised $14 million. We want to do our part to raise even more so that we can meet all of our mission goals.

As a responsible organization, we need to take steps to evolve our signature fundraising event and its business practices because the less money we raise means less money to fund our important mission work. To accomplish this, we are making changes to the way we produce Relay For Life and how we engage people in our events.

By bringing some Relay For Life events together, we will strengthen our signature fundraising event. Having fewer events will allow us to significantly reduce both event costs and duplication of volunteer and staff efforts.

We are very thankful to everyone who has participated in our Relay For Life events in Wallaceburg. Please know that you are important to us and we will continue to need participants, volunteers, and sponsors to work with us to run a successful Chatham-Kent Relay. We encourage you to contact the Chatham-Kent community office at (519) 352-3960 if you have questions or concerns.

To meet the evolving needs of our community for 2015, we are offering a new format for Relay For Life. On Saturday, June 13, 2015, our Relay For Life event will be held at Chatham-Kent Secondary School. We will start at 12 :00 p.m. and run to 12:00 midnight. This change will help us welcome more people to the event. Please know that this year’s format will still encompass all of the amazing aspects that you love about Relay.

Celebrating survivors will always be an integral part of Relay For Life. We are asking all cancer survivors to register, fundraise, participate, share the celebration and experience the entire event.

At its core, Relay For Life has always been a fundraiser. Our events are festival-like and feature free food and drink along with live entertainment and fun activities for people of all ages. The community of Chatham-Kent has been very generous and while we make every effort to secure donations for these things, it still costs the Society money to host our events. To offset these expenses and ensure the sustainability of Relay For Life, the registration fee will be increasing February 1, 2015 to $25 per adult and $15.00 per child. The $25 registration fee will also include a free luminary. Registration fees from May 1 2015,through to event day will increase to $35 per adult and $20 per child.

Register today at relayforlife.ca.

Who will you relay for?