1,000 cranes featured at Relay For Life March 30

The Civic Engagement Office and student volunteers are hard at work preparing for the Relay For Life of Cornell College on Friday, March 30, 2018.

It takes place in the Small Multi-Sport Center on the Cornell College campus. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. for the event that takes place from 6–11 p.m. This event is a campus and community event, which is something students really enjoy.

“It’s a way to get involved, not just on campus, but in the community as well,” said Sydney Cooper ’18. “Helping to organize this event has been a great way to give back. We’re getting to talk with people in the community, work with businesses, and make contacts, which has been a great opportunity.”

This year’s event will feature something new flying in too.

Organizers and participants have been working all month to fold 1,000 paper cranes, which will be featured at the event on March 30. 

“There’s a popular legend in Japanese culture about folding 1,000 cranes and once you finish all of them you get a wish,” said Civic Engagement Coordinator Samantha Hebel. “There was a young girl, Sadako Sasaki, who lived in Hiroshima, Japan. She experienced radiation from one of the bombings and was diagnosed with leukemia in the 1950s. While she was in the hospital she was folding 1,000 cranes so she could wish to be better. As the story goes, the girl ended up passing away, but the cranes became a worldwide symbol of peace and hope.”

Relay For Life is a long-running activity on the Cornell College campus. While you can register as an individual, many participants register as a team. Registration takes place online, and all of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. The money helps in the fight against cancer through research, education, advocacy, and patient services.

“I think everyone is in some way, shape, or form, directly or indirectly, impacted by cancer,” Cooper said.

Throughout the evening of the event, team members take turns walking around the track. Relay For Life has a tradition of bringing friends, families, and loved ones together to honor those who are surviving with cancer, to celebrate those who defeated cancer, and to remember those who lost the fight against cancer. Cornell College’s Relay For Life received national recognition as Top Five Youth Per Capita in fundraising in 2008, 2009, and 2011.