Evergreen Park, Beverly-Mt. Greenwood Fight Back with Relay for Life

Cancer. Every year, there are one million new cases of cancer in the U.S., meaning one in every 300 Americans is diagnosed with cancer yearly. And according to the World Health Organization, cancer is the world's leading cause of death.

So how can the word “cancer” become a hopeful thing? When it's paired on either side with "American" and "Society." The American Cancer Society (ACS) provides assistance to those with cancer through research, information and personal care.

ACS, which is currently celebrating its 100th year, is also the organization at the center of Relay For Life, a walk where teams and individuals come out and to raise funds, share how cancer has impacted their lives and fight back. The communities of Evergreen Park, Beverly and Mt. Greenwood will be continuing this tradition of fighting back this weekend.

From 2 p.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday, July 13 to Sunday, July 14, Brother Rice High School will host Relay For Life of Evergreen Park, Beverly and Mt. Greenwood. Event chair Kelly Duffy hopes to make this a family-oriented event because she says she wants parents to feel welcome and to encourage them to bring kids along.

“From the start, I wanted it to be like a big block party,” Duffy says, “So really incorporating more things for families. As you can see from the lap schedule, there’s something to do every hour. Really, focusing on bringing more of the community in has been our thing.”

And the lap schedule is indeed packed with events (included in the image above). Fun lap themes include Halloween hour at 6 p.m. and karaoke hour at 11 p.m., which will also feature the Miss Relay contest, where the best cross-dressed man wins. The schedule also includes traditional Relay events like the Luminaria Ceremony and the Survivors Lap.

This year will also feature a new lap called the “Quarter Lap,” in which Relay participants will line the track with as many quarters as possible in the hopes of making it all the way around. Duffy says she thought it’d be something fun that the kids might enjoy.

“And of course, all the quarters go to the cause,” Duffy says. “I’m all for trying things. We can scratch it off next year, but, you know, let’s try it.”

While Duffy and her husband Steve are new to the role of event co-chair, the pair, along with their children, have been doing the Evergreen Park, Beverly, Mt. Greenwood Relay for three years and other Relays for many years before that.

Duffy says she knows how tough it can be for people to volunteer their time and money to all the different charities there are in the area, but she hopes people will still come out to Relay and help out the community that way.

“This is where our heart is,” Duffy says. “We also do Making Strides, we do tons of different stuff, but this is our little baby, so to speak.”

Interested folks can donate here or sign up here. Those who would like to volunteer can contact Kelly Duffy at 708-423-5258.