How many of us have come up with the excuse, “I’m sorry, I’m just too busy,” when asked to help organize for a cause, be it a local charity, school or your own kid’s soccer team?
It’s six words, however, that you’re unlikely to hear uttered from the mouth of Linda Wong, who is pulling for not one, two or even three teams at this year’s Relay For Life – but six.
As well as her own “Team Inspired,” school teacher Wong has helped pull together a team from Cambie secondary, her daughter Jade’s team, a Steveston-London student team, her son’s team and her daughter’s dance friends’ team, all for the Canadian Cancer Society’s annual community fundraiser at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
One might be surprised to hear of Wong’s devotion to the event – her teams have raised more than $200,000 in 10 years for vital research and support programs — until you learn of the pain cancer has caused her family.
Between 2003 and 2011, the deadly disease took three of Wong’s five sisters.
“Cancer stole three of my sisters,” said Wong.
“In their lifetime, my parents have had to endure losing three of their six daughters. I want to make sure that no one else has to go through what we’ve gone through.”
Diagnosed
Wong’s older sister, Rita, was the first to be diagnosed, in 1990, just six months after her daughter was born. She had surgery and treatment and remained healthy until 2006 when her cancer returned. Rita passed away in 2009.
Shortly after Rita’s initial diagnosis, the family learned that Doris – who was pregnant at the time also had cancer. After a nine-year battle with the disease, Doris died in 2003.
In 2010, Shirley, the third-eldest, was diagnosed with the same cancer as Doris. Shirley passed away in 2011.
The experience of losing her sisters has motivated Wong to get involved with the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, which this year takes place over six hours, instead of 12, on June 13 from 6 p.m. to midnight.
And it’s an event that, for obvious reasons, she holds dear to her heart and is now urging everyone she knows to get involved in some way, shape or form.
“Our team has a pub night in May and we have 15 members in our team, but we can always use some more,” said Wong, who’s fit and healthy and raring to go.
“Or you can put together your own team. All you need to do is raise $1,000 on your own. If you’re struggling, funds can be thrown into the team pot.
“There are no meetings to attend or anything. You maybe just need to find a couple of prizes for the silent auction.”
The majority of Wong’s group walks the relay, she said. “Some run though, as long as we have someone on the track at all times, it doesn’t matter.
“Research is how we can win this fight. We need to ensure there is enough money donated to support research so this story doesn’t happen to my kids, my nieces, my nephew or any other families.”
Strength
Thanks to the tireless efforts from Richmondites such as Wong, the Canadian Cancer Society has directed more than $1 billion toward life-saving research projects. As a result, more and more Canadians are surviving, and thriving, after treatment.
In fact, more than 60 per cent of Canadians survive cancer compared to just 25 per cent in the 1940s, according to the cancer society
“Too many of us are losing loved ones to cancer,” added Wong.
“I feel extremely lucky to have my health, so I want to make sure I do everything in my power to support the Canadian Cancer Society. I owe my strength to my sisters.
“Remembering how much each of them suffered motivates me to continue putting on more and more fundraisers. I cannot let anyone else endure the pain that my family has gone through.”
The Canadian Cancer Society is inviting Richmond residents to join the 2015, Relay For Life,.
The event will have all the traditional elements of a relay, including the survivors lap, luminary ceremony as well as some new activities, such as a challenge component and the return of the relay baton.
Teams and individuals can sign up to run or walk a 5K, 10K, half marathon or full marathon this year.
Registration for the 2015 Relay For Life in Richmond is open and teams can sign up at relayforlife.ca.
The organizing committee is also looking for volunteers to assist with this year’s event.
Race for charity cash heats up every year
It’s not getting any easier.
The admission is frank and indicative of the struggle most charities endure trying to continually raise funds in a fast-paced, competitive world, punctuated by requests for donations at store checkouts and via online crowd-funding.
Brooke Sherwood, team lead in the Canadian Cancer Society BC and Yukon’s community giving department, is acutely aware of how difficult it is to keep the charitable fires burning inside established and potential donors, year after year.
And it’s one of the reasons the society has decided to streamline its signature fundraiser, Relay For Life, to a six-hour event, from its traditional 12.
“We’re very fortunate with society and the Relay, in that we have a very dedicated, core donor group, which allows us to do the work we do,” said Sherwood.
“But at the same time, it is a constant challenge competing with other charities, competing with economic factors and with the latest and greatest events out there.
“It has become more and more challenging to get people to support the work that the society does.
“We are always looking for feedback from our volunteers, donors and other stakeholders. And the one common theme that kept coming back was the ever-increasing time constraints on all of these people.”
Busy lives
Sherwood said people still love the event – billed as an opportunity for the community to celebrate, remember loved ones and fight back against cancer — and want to take part in all of its aspects as much as possible, but “it’s difficult to do it for 12 hours.”
“They all have busy lives and it was a challenge to get people to keep coming back in the old format.
“This new format better aligns with our donors and stakeholders. They’re the backbone of the event and 12 hours was just proving a little too much.”
Initially, recalled Sherwood, it was “all guns blazing” and everyone was all over the 12-hour relay.
“People loved the challenge,” she said.
“But we started looking at this last year and realized it was time for a change.”
Relay challenges
Team registration, explained Sherwood, is the biggest challenge right now. “That’s why we changed it from the 12 hours to the six. It’s a team event, but it’s also a family event and people have to get home to put their kids to bed and things like that.
“But (if you can’t get a team together) people can still walk up and take part as individuals and people can come to the opening ceremony and remember those who have taken the journey through cancer or are still traveling through it.
“But we do need more teams to register with us so we can continue the great work we do.”
To spice things up every year, Relay For Life has a theme; this year’s being “carnival.”
“And we are bringing the baton back for the first time in seven or eight years, as that’s the whole point of relay; it’s a team event and it takes a team of people to help those with cancer.”
At the event in Richmond last year, a total of 27 teams, with 350 participants, raised $115,000.
Across the province, 1,340 teams and 10,535 people took part, including 1,639 cancer survivors, with $3,527,419 raised for the society and its work.
It’s vital funds that helped pay for society programs, such as its lodges in Prince George, Victoria and Vancouver — where patients can stay while receiving cancer treatment at centres close by — its financial assistance program and driver programs (driving people to and from appointments).
“We want to make this year’s event in Richmond the best one yet,” said Sherwood.
Registration for the 2015 Relay For Life in Richmond is open and teams can sign up at relayforlife.ca.
The organizing committee is also looking for volunteers to assist with this year’s event.
