‘Relay for Life’ raises funds, awareness

Organizers for the Richmond Hill Relay for Life have hit the ground running with fundraising efforts for the event on May 19 and 20. On Tuesday, February 27, nearly 50 supporters gathered at Avenue Lounge, located at 112-06 Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill, to hear how to form teams and recruit volunteers for the overnight, inaugural event in south Queens to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
“Why all night long?” asked Leslie Orlovsky, the American Cancer Society’s Director of Special Events. “Because cancer never sleeps, and for one night neither will we.”
Orlovsky explained that the main inspiration of the Relay is to have one team member circling a track for 12 hours - overnight. Meanwhile, festivities like games, races, and music keep other team members entertained until their turn to hit the Smokey Oval Park track, at 125th Street and Atlantic Avenue.
The Relay is the first one to be held in Richmond Hill, although local businessman Romeo Hitlall, owner of a local realty group, organized a cancer walk for the cure last year in the neighborhood. Hitlall said the community signed on with the American Cancer Society this year so as to raise even more money for research.
Hitlall, who lost his friend Kenneth Pathan to lung and throat cancer recently, has several friends who have survived the disease, and last year his mother found a benign lump in her breast.
“I think it’s important to educate the community that if you find out you have cancer, you are not necessarily going to die,” Hitlall said.
To start the overnight Relay, cancer survivors, including Kew Gardens resident Mary Diakite, will make a special “victory” lap at 5 p.m. Diakite, who beat breast cancer three years ago, is seeking other survivors to lap the track.
“We hope that all cancer survivors will come out,” she said, also encouraging local residents to attend and support the cancer survivors. “Honoring a survivor is one of the greatest things you can do.”
In order to remember lost loved ones, participants can light “luminaria” candles - white paper bags filled with 16 oz. of sand. The candles will be arranged to spell out CURE at the Relay event to inspire walkers and runners.
David Golub, Regional Vice President for the American Cancer Society, said that he would be in attendance to honor Vernon Waddington Europe, a Guyanese security guard at the American Cancer Society Manhattan office who died in 2002 from colon cancer.
“What makes this [the Richmond Hill Relay] so special for me is the opportunity to bring the resources of the American Cancer Society to the Guyanese community, in part because of my memory of Vernon,” Golub said.
“I said, Vernon, I will not forget what happened, and I will always remember you,” Golub told the crowd, adding that he hoped the Relay would raise awareness about the need for screenings to detect early-stage cancerous cells. The American Cancer Society offers free screenings for anyone who does not have health insurance to cover the tests.
“If you are an immigrant, if you are black, if you are Guyanese, if you are Hispanic, you have an elevated risk of dying a horrible death from cancer,” Golub said. “We need to spread the word about screenings.”
For more information about the Richmond Hill Relay for Life, call Leslie Orlovsky from the American Cancer Society at 718-263-2225, ext. 26 or visit https://www.acsevents.org/relay/ny/richmondhill.
On Wednesday, March 14, at 7 p.m., there will be a team captains’ meeting at NMCRA Connectors Realty, located at 112-01 Liberty Avenue.