WATCH: Relay For Life at UC Raises More than $126,000

“There are plenty of other things you kids could be doing tonight and you’re here. Thank you.”

– Cancer survivor at Relay For Life at UC

Despite the rain, hundreds of tents covered McMicken Commons April 23-24 for an 18-hour event that is billed as UC’s largest student-organized community service event on campus. The 2010 Relay For Life at UC raised more than $126,000 to support the American Cancer Society’s education, advocacy and research programs, according to co-chair Megan Hathaway, a UC junior and civil engineering major. The UC Relay For Life website will continue taking donations through Aug. 31.

The eighth annual Relay For Life at UC drew 1,846 participants and 173 teams, which collected pledges and took turns walking around the Relay route on McMicken Commons through the entire 18-hour event. The teams also held individual fundraisers at their tents set up on McMicken Commons.

In 2009, UC received more than $1.1 million in research funding from the American Cancer Society. Of those funds, $30,000 were from the society’s Ohio chapter.

Hathaway adds that UC has hosted the No. 1 collegiate Relay For Life in Ohio for the past two years and was recognized in 2009 as one of the top 10 best collegiate Relay For Life events in the nation.