Community News

Luminaria, including this display, are an integral part of Relay For Life events. The luminaria are lit in memory of or in honor of loved ones and friends who have had cancer.

The 2008 University of Cincinnati Relay For Life raised more than $115,000, exceeding its goal.

Photos courtesy of Florence Lucas

WEST AKRON — Florence Lucas knows about cancer. But she didn’t know about the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life event until she headed to college at the University of Cincinnati (UC) in 2006.

“I just stumbled upon it,” said Lucas, a West Akron native who was a member of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School’s Class of 2006. “I had never heard of it while living in Akron.”

University of Cincinnati sophomore Florence Lucas, a West Akron native, chaired the Relay For Life event at the school this year. She is shown here at left with fellow student Megan Hathaway.

Today Lucas is aware that the Akron area is home to several Relay For Life events [see sidebar below]. While a freshman at UC, she signed up to help at the event, which is the largest fund-raiser on campus.

Lucas began working on the entertainment committee for the 2007 event and ended up getting so involved that she was named chair of the event for this year — quite a feat for a college sophomore.

“I fell in love with it,” she said. “It was a great experience.”

Lucas, a secondary education major, enjoys doing community service, but one of the main reasons the relay appealed to her is because of her own family’s experience with cancer. Her paternal grandmother (whom she was named after) died of cancer before she was born, and her maternal grandparents, Jim and Anne Richie, of West Akron, are cancer survivors.

Relay For Life began in 1986 with the first event held in Tacoma, Wash. Since then, the event has become the American Cancer Society’s signature fund-raising activity. Relays consist of teams of people who camp out at a local high school, park or fairgrounds and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team, whose members raise money to participate, is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event.

Relays are an overnight event, up to 24 hours long. There are currently more than 4,800 relays that take place each year, according to the American Cancer Society.

The UC event took place April 25-26 and raised more than $115,000, exceeding its goal, Lucas said. She added 145 teams participated in this year’s event, the sixth for the university, making it the largest one yet there.

Lucas was exhausted after the event but said she is ready to chair it again next year.

“I feel really connected to it,” she said. “I have had leadership roles in high school and in clubs and I was involved, but it doesn’t compare to leading something of this magnitude. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done in my life.”

She learned early on that she had to delegate tasks, which was not always easy.

“I would think, ‘Man I should just do that myself,’ but then I’d get [the project] back and say ‘That is better than I could have done,’” she said. “But you can’t just delegate — you have to let people do their own thing. I can’t plan an event like this by myself.”

Lucas’ parents, Betsy and Stephen Lucas, of West Akron, went to Cincinnati to participate in this year’s event and give their daughter moral support.

“She is only 19 and has many accomplishments, but I think this is what she is most proud of,” Betsy Lucas said of her daughter.

“The way that it brings people together is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Lucas said. “I can’t think of a better way to spend my time other than planning for this event.”