Celebrating 12 Years of Raising Funds for Cancer Research

Thousands of Second Life Residents from all across the real globe joined together on July 16 and 17 for the 12th Relay Weekend of Relay For Life of Second Life and celebrate.

“It’s incredible to see how this Relay has grown over the last 12 years,” said Stingray Raymaker, American Cancer Society staff partner. “That first year, 2005, there were 315 Avatars walking the track to bring attention to the importance of cancer research. This year more than 3,000 will take to the track. We have become the largest fundraiser in SL and other virtual worlds.”

Relay Weekend kicked off at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 16 and featured 24 hours of themed laps, activities and entertainment. The weekend wrapped up with a massive party at 1 p.m. PDT Sunday, July 17.

For those who could not be at the Relay sims, they tuned in to T1 Radio, at T1radio.com, which  aired the festivities through Relay Weekend.

“Our 2016 season has brought about outreach like no other season” Said Random Padar - Darrow, 2016 Event Chair. “We have over 60 new teams this year.  At every team event we have seen more and more new faces.  I am thrilled that our Relay Weekend is almost here!  We will begin with an opening ceremony beginning at 10am on July 16th, followed by our Honor Lap for our survivors and caregivers to walk proudly. At 9pm we will hold our always inspiring and touching Luminaria ceremony.  As I walk through our sims this year I see some amazing builds!  Team campsites along with special designer sims will compete for awards that display cancer education and theme inspired builds.  Once Upon A Cure season will go down in the history books as one which was filled with stories from our passionate Relayers, while working to write the end of the story!”

Relay For Life of Second Life is an annual activity that takes place in Second Life in July each year. Volunteers form or join teams to have fun while fundraising and raising awareness from March through mid-July. In July, teams build campsites and walk a track, just like in a real world Relay.  Over the last eleven years, Relay For Life of Second Life has raised almost $3 million for cancer research and is the largest charity event in the virtual worlds. Several thousand volunteers from more than 80 countries participate each year, truly making it a global event.

There are many ways to get involved in Relay For Life of Second Life and another way to show your support is through sponsorships. Relay For Life of Second Life is proud to have the following as premier sponsors:  RGF Estates, Rockliffe University, Sol Existence and Runestone and other sponsorships are available; please contact the Cathy10 Longoria, Sponsorship Lead or Random Padar, Event Chair for more details.

Keep up with the news on Relay For Life of Second Life through it’s website, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr pages:

http://relayforlifeofsecondlife.org/

https://twitter.com/RelayForLife_SL

http://facebook.com/rflofsl