Cranford is a family community.  Meaning, not only is it a community of families, but the community itself IS a family, of sorts.  So when one of our own feels pain or loss, we ALL do.  There’s probably not a single one of us who hasn’t been touched by cancer in some way.  Whether it be ourselves, a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a teacher, one of our kid’s friend’s family members . . . . . the disease reaches out in an intricate web and seemingly touches everyone is some way or another.  It’s easy to feel powerless over it.  But there IS a way to fight back against a disease that has already taken too much from our lives.

 

Each year, more than 4 million people in over 20 countries around the globe raise money and awareness to save lives from cancer through the Relay For Life movement.  At the annual Relay For Life event here in Cranford, families,  friends, and neighbors come together to honor cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that continues to take loved ones and leave holes in families. The funds raised go directly towards the fight against cancer.  Not sure how useful that money really is?  Why not ask one of the nearly 14 million cancer survivors who get to celebrate another birthday this year, because of the research and advances made in the fight against this prevalent disease?

 

The Relay For Life teams will camp out overnight and take turns walking or running around a prescribed path for 12 hours. The “relay” concept fits in because, since  cancer never sleeps, each team is asked to have at least one participant on the track at all times. That way, some team members can rest, while others take to the track.

 

This year’s Cranford based Relay For Life will take place Friday, May 16, 2014 through Saturday, May 17, 2014 , from 6:00 PM – 6:00 AM, on the field of Orange Avenue School, at 901 Orange Avenue.  You can put your team together and sign up at www.relayforlife.org/cranfordNJ  .  Don’t want to relay, but want to help out?  Go to that same site, and look up your friends by team name or by individual name, and you can donate money for their team’s fundraising goals. For more information, contact Daniel Stermer at 973-232-2574, or email at daniel.stermer@cancer.org .

For more information regarding Relay for Life or the American Cancer Society, please go online to Relay For Life  or  Cancer.org .

Check out the gallery of photographs from last year’s event:

Photo Credit Joceyln Alfandre