1. Welcome to Relay For Life Kickoff!
Welcome and Introductions………..(Internal Relay Champion). Good morning and welcome to the INSERT NAME Kickoff for the American Cancer Society Relay For Life of INSERT NAME! We’re so glad to see so many of you here today. My name is INSERT NAME and I’m the INSERT TITLE for INSERT NAME here in INSERT NAME. As we all know, INSERT NAME is committed to our community and to our employees. One of the important ways we support our community is through our partnership with the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. We are all here today to celebrate those who have had cancer, remember loved ones lost, and find out how we can make a difference in the fight against this disease!
This year, INSERT BUSINESS NAME has committed to partnering with our local Relay For Life of INSERT NAME by forming teams from our departments to participate in the event. You may have some questions about the Relay For Life and what it means to be a Relay team- we hope that our Kickoff today answer any questions you may have and leave you inspired and excited to participate in the Relay For Life!
cancer.org

2. Celebrate Remember Fight Back
Celebrate Remember Fight Back! Relay For Life of Hopetown Friday, April 15- Saturday, April 16 Hopetown High School
Relay For Life is a life-saving and life-changing movement that is helping the American Cancer Society make a difference in the lives of Cancer Survivors and Caregivers every single day.
This year’s Relay will be held April 15th-16th at the Hopetown High School. Before we get into more specifics about this year’s Relay, I’d like to invite you all to watch the following video: (Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back Video. Paste link into browser or show from video)
What a great video that was! It really gives a good overview of how the American Cancer Society is making a difference through Relay For Life. It is now my pleasure to introduce our next speaker. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome INSERT NAME (Survivor Speaker or Caregiver Speaker). (Survivor Speaker or Caregiver Speaker will now share his/her personal story and how the American Cancer Society has impacted his/her cancer journey. Ideally, this is an employee who has been impacted by cancer. If the speaker has not benefitted directly from the American Cancer Society, it is appropriate for the Internal Relay Champion to share some ways the American Cancer Society is saving lives every day- see slide 4).
cancer.org

3. Saving Lives through Relay For Life
Internal Relay Champion: While most of us would agree that we are gathered here to have a good time, there is also an important purpose that joins us here today. We are all committed to helping the American Cancer Society SAVE MORE LIVES by helping people stay well, get well, by finding cures, and by fighting back. Just a few of the important ways we help cancer patients and their families in __________community is below:
-Road to Recovery program, which provides transportation to and from treatment for patients who otherwise would not have a way to get there.
-The American Cancer Society also provides cancer information twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week through our number, which is and on the web at cancer.org.
-Look Good and Feel Better- session lead by licensed cosmetologist to help women undergoing chemotherapy and radiation in make-up application, maintaining wigs and other skills.
-ROCK Programs- camp, families weekend, pediatric cancer research and college scholarships
-Research
(Pick the ones that are most inspiring to the group. Do some asking ahead of time and see if there is anyone in the organization who may have participated in one of the services. Maybe they would share their story.)
All of this is made possible by people like you, committed to creating a world with less cancer and many more birthdays!
cancer.org

4. Relay For Life Honors Survivors & Caregivers!
(Survivor/Caregiver Recognition….Internal Relay Champion)
Thank you, INSERT SURVIVOR or CAREGIVER SPEAKER NAME, for sharing your story! Relay For Life gives us the opportunity to celebrate those who have had cancer and remember loved ones lost. Cancer Survivors are the true celebrities of Relay and the very reason why we Relay. We’d like to take a moment to recognize all of the survivors in the room. Would all survivors please stand.
(As survivors stand, provide each with a small gift)
Thank you all for joining us tonight. It means so much to see you.
Supporting our survivors are their wonderful caregivers. A caregiver is defined as any person who provides care to a patient during their treatment. Once a person serves as a caregiver, they will always be recognized as a caregiver. We would like to ask that all caregivers in the room stand and be recognized.
(As caregivers stand, provide each with a small gift)
Thank you.
cancer.org

5. Relay For Life is FUN! 1-800-227-2345 cancer.org
The Relay For Life provides an incredible opportunity to bring our employees together with our friends and families to get to know each other a little better and make a difference in Hopetown. And, Relay For Life is really, really FUN!
A Relay For Life team is made up of 12 to 15 people who get to decorate a campsite, participate in lots of games and contests and, of course, raise money for the American Cancer Society. We ask each team member to raise at least $100, but don’t worry, because we’ll give you lots of great, creative ways to raise money and a t-shirt for all of your efforts.
We are encouraging multiple teams to form from within our departments/floors/etc. And we promise there will be lots of fun contests and prizes awarded to our INSERT BUSINESS NAME teams throughout the Relay For Life season! (If the company is paying the registration fee for teams that want to participate, insert this information here).
cancer.org

6. Benefits to employees who participate:
Use this slide to highlight company benefits for employees who participate- PTO, gifts, work time for Relay events, etc
You can also include any company wide challenges here
Any other specific company information
_________________
_______________
_____________________
____________________
cancer.org

7. Prize Drawing
cancer.org

8. Luminaria: The Ceremony of Hope
Internal Relay Champion: The Luminaria Ceremony is one of the most emotional and touching parts of Relay. We’re going to give everyone an opportunity to participate in a Luminaria Ceremony here today. There are votive cups or glowsticks in front of each of you.
Please light your candle/glowstick as I read.
We come together tonight to renew our fight against cancer through Relay For Life and to celebrate our efforts thus far.
One aspect of that celebration is to honor those survivors of cancer who were, and are, an important part of our lives.
Cancer shows no preference. It touches the lives of young, old, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, partners, best friends, old friends, and dear friends.
Today we remember those we loved whose lives were taken from ours by cancer.
Those honoring or remembering your mother, please light your luminaria.
Those honoring or remembering your father, please light your luminaria now.
Those honoring or remembering a husband, wife or partner, please light your luminaria.
Those honoring or remembering a son or daughter, please light your luminaria.
Those honoring or remembering grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives, please light your luminaria now.
Friends are treasures that can never be replaced. Those honoring or remembering friends or neighbors, please light your luminaria now.
About those we honor with these luminarias who have passed away, I say:
You whose memory we honor today, this light represents the love we have shared. It still burns for others to see, but it burns brightest in our hearts and in our souls. You were and always will be a part of us. Though we do not see you, we know you are with us.
For those we honor today who are currently fighting the battle or who have won, we light these candles as our continued commitment to the fight. You have survived it and we will help you fight it until a cure is found. These lights glow in honor of you.
(Play appropriate music and turn down the lights to give people a chance to reflect and remember.)
cancer.org

9. Team Party DATE: TIME: LOCATION:
Please join us at the next Team Party to meet other teams and members and to also learn more about the Relay for Life of Hopetown. Bring all your team members!
DATE:
TIME:
LOCATION:
For those who will be participating in the Relay- invite them to the next Team Party event.
cancer.org

10. Join Us in the Fight! 1-800-227-2345 cancer.org
Thank you for giving us some time to remember why we are here. We have invited you all here to our Kickoff today to tell you a little about Relay For Life and share some of the ways that you make a difference in the fight against cancer.
  I’d like to invite each of you to get some friends, family, or co-workers together and form a team. If your team is registering today, please stand up! (Applause) (Note: If your Internal Relay Champion has already found interested leaders who want to serve as Team Captains, let them know in advance that she/he will be calling upon them to stand at the end of the Kickoff). I’m so happy to see so many teams ready to register now! Thank you!
For those of you who are registering today, we have two computers set-up towards the back of the room. Please turn your attention to the screen in the front where I’d like to demonstrate the simple process of signing up online. This year’s event website address is Insert web address) . Our event website takes our fundraising, communication and mission capabilities to a whole new level. Not only are we able to receive donations from Aunt Mary across the country, but we can also link her up to life-saving cancer-related information that could help her through her own cancer journey down the road. The site also keeps us informed of important event information like meeting dates and event schedules. I encourage you all to take five minutes to sign-up online today so you can invite your friends and family to join your team and begin fundraising when they visit the event website.
After you’ve signed up, we have team captain’s packets for you to pick up at the table in the back. If you would like to form a team, but don’t have your registration ready or would like some more information, don’t worry just fill out one of the interest cards on your table so we can be sure to follow up with you.
For those of you who are interested in learning about other ways in which you can fight back against cancer, such as joining the Relay For Life Committee as a volunteer, please fill out the provided commitment cards and indicate where your interests lie. There are numerous ways that you can get involved with both Relay and the American Cancer Society and all of them involve fighting back.
Thank you for your support and for taking the time to kick off Relay For Life today! With your help, we are SAVING MORE LIVES every day!
cancer.org