Price Zimmer ’14 | Arts & Entertainment Editor

Relay for Life is a fun way to spend an afternoon, despite its weighty purpose.

With a litany of activities, ranging from light-hearted Irish Dancing to an emotional Luminaria, the fundraiser, which took place on Saturday, May 11, invites people from the community to have a day of fun while raising money for the American Cancer Society.

Three teams from South participated in the event, Kiss Cancer Goodbye (KCG), Students with a Target (SWAT) and Fight Love Cure (FLC). Each team raised $3,698, $1,560 and $2,012 respectively, totaling $7,270.

“(It) gets very competitive, we even took SWAT’s purple toilet, one of their main donation tools,” said co-captain Cassandra Morse ’14. “You have to pay $50 to get the toilet removed; they’ve raised a lot of money with it (the toilet) this year.”

KCG is a new team. Founded this year by Morse and Jordan Kavanaugh ’14, this group had the largest delegation at the event, totaling 71 members.

“After doing this for four years, (I) decided it was time to have my own team,” said Morse.

Fundraising activities of KCG not only included a multitude of snacks and beverages patrons could order but also a photo booth and tickets to a Tiger’s game, Morse said.

“Tiger tickets have been one of the biggest draws this year (for KCG),” said Morse. “It raised the expectations of the total by a large margin.”

Another South-run team is SWAT, captained by Darian Dempsey ’13, whose sister Morgan Dempsey founded the group seven or eight years ago, Dempsey said. While compromised of 15 members, the group still finds enjoyment in Relay for Life.

“(The event) is a little chaotic, but fun,” said Dempsey.

Kendra Dodson, the team leader of Spartan Relayers, knows the serious cause behind the event all too well.

Not only are Dodson’s father, Ken Hoffman, and sister-in-law, Julie Hoffman, cancer survivors, having beaten Prostate cancer and Hodgkin’s-Lymphoma respectively, but she herself is a survivor of Thyroid cancer, Dodson said.

“My father and I both had surgery, but Julie had to undergo six months of chemo(therapy) for her cancer,” said Dodson.

Their booth was heavily decorated in Michigan State related clothes, trinkets and delicacies because Hoffman teaches at Michigan State University and family grew up around East Lansing, Dodson said.  Dodson’s started the group in memory of her friend, Michele Palgat, who died of cancer and to bring her family together.

“The weather has been pretty cold and chilly, but has still been fun,” said Dodson the day of the event.

While organizing the event has been hard work at times, Dodson and her family have participated in Relay for Life the last few years and have settled on the name Spartan Relayers to represent themselves.

“(Preparation for the event) starts around the holidays when Relay for Life begins the process of creating teams, gathering funds for the event and a lot of online fundraising leading up to today,” said Dodson.

Relay for Life is entirely done on the backs of volunteers and community leaders who spend upwards of six months gathering funds and planning the 24 hour event.

Event organizer Stephanie Cosmas recently moved from Texas and this is her first year in Michigan as well as working for Relay for Life. Cosmas has worked for five years in the non-profit field and for three years for the Red Cross.

“I made a change because Relay for Life is the biggest charity in Michigan and (after I moved) I thought it was a good opportunity,” said Cosmas.

Despite a fairly cold day with slight overcast, the participants were of high spirits trying to fight one of the leading killers of people. Relay for Life hopes to provide the community with a good time and an easy way for people to donate money.