Big Turnout Leads to Big Results for the Annual Relay For Life

At Howell High School, the phrase "Friday Night Lights" took on a whole new meaning this week. More than 600 participants packed the stadium for the school's third annual Relay For Life to benefit the American Cancer Society.

Starting at 7 on Friday night, the participants took part in a ceremony honoring local people who have been directly impacted by cancer or know people who have. The starting ceremony served to remind them of why they were giving up the rest of their night and part of the following morning for the event.

One of the people responsible for bringing the Relay For Life to Howell is Jane Gutshall, the director of Special Events for the Jersey Shore Region of the American Cancer Society.

On Friday night, Gutshall said the Howell Relay is one of 19 held throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties.

While they all have some factors in common, Gutshall said Howell's definitely has some unique characteristics. The biggest difference, she said, is how strong the student involvement is in its planning and execution.

"It really is an event that's put on by the community, for the community," she said. "This group of about 30 kids put on the event for the entire Howell community."

Even in just three  years, the event has become a significant event on the school's calendar, and has also contributed to the fundraising efforts of the organization. According to the website for the Howell Relay, the amount of money raised has been impressive on several levels. 

One team, the Cancer Crushers, raised more than $6,000, with team captain Emily Cofrancisco raising more than $5,000 on her own. It was not only high school students that raised money, either. Kyle Stivala, still several years away from high school, raised close to $3000 for his A Stroll for Pop team. With the event being held close to his birthday all the participants serenaded him with happy birthday as part of the opening ceremony.

Cofrancisco said she has been involved in the Relay since her freshman year, the first year at the school, and has done more for it each year.

"In the beginning it was very difficult to get people to come here," she said. "We had to advertise this event since September. We had parties, we advertised it in lunches, we had dress down days and wore signs that said ask me about relay."

The junior said she was first inspired to do this because her cousin was died from tongue cancer during her sophomore year. The money she raised this year was a drastic improvement from the $100 she raised as a freshman. Last year, she boosted that number to $2,600 and it has only grown from there. 

The overnight adventure is about more than just having representatives of all the teams walking around the track for a long period of time. There also are games, activities and contests to keep the students busy, even when the sun goes down and the temperature drops.

As Gutshall said, "The way I describe Relay For Life is it's like field day over night. They sing, they dance, they do karaoke at four o'clock in the morning."

It is with those middle of the night activities that she said the students show their youth and vitality. "They have way more energy than I do," she said with a laugh.

Relay For Life started in 1985 with one man in Washington State and has since grown to more than 5,000 relays around the world.

As of Friday night, Gutshall said she expected the Howell relay to bring in close to $40,000 and for the Jersey Shore region to cross the million dollar mark. "The whole idea is cancer never sleeps, so neither do we," she said. 

The night is filled with several motivational moments. From the opening laps  by the survivors and their caretakers, to a special ceremony at 1 a.m. where the participants announce to everyone present what they will do to fight cancer in the future.

By the time Saturday morning rolled around the participants showed their commitment to the cause and showed why in such a short time it has become the rousing success that it is. 

The Howell event theme was "Relay Around the World," and the theme for Relay in general is "Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back. Gutshall said the latter's meaning applies to all the participants in a variety of ways.

"We celebrate our survivors, remember those that have lost their battle and we all pledge to fight back," she said. 

One of the survivors present was John Giacomantonio, who works at the Griebling School and said he was touched to see the participation of so many students who had gone through his building. Having been cancer free for four and a half years, he said he was glad to be able to be at an event that does so much for so many people. 

Representing the staff at the school was Eileen Eccleston, the nurse at Howell High. She said having seen the impact cancer can have on a family only made her want to be involved in the Relay that much more. "The American Cancer Society is a great place to get that support," she said. 

Eccleston also said the large turnout showed what a special group of students they have at the school: "I'm really proud of the kids. It's a great bunch of kids that really came together."

With each year, Eccleston said the event has brought more people into the fold and she hopes to see that continue in the future: "We're trying to get the community more involved and, hopefully, this is the beginning of a long tradition."