Recently I had the opportunity to participate both as a team leader and a committee member in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Having been a participant for the past few years, it was interesting to see the other side of things.A large portion of my evening was spent walking around the track at Brampton's Fair Grounds taking pictures of teams in costume and generally making sure that everyone was having a good time. (Pics can be seen at the Brampton/Caledon/Georgetown/Dufferin County Unit's Facebook page.)
The main thing that I noticed about this year's Relay compared to the last few was that the focus had shifted from individual team members to families. There was a sports area set up for kids as well as a bouncy castle and even a clown doing balloon animals. Having all of these things made the event more kid-friendly and I saw that a lot more families were present for the event, compared to last year.
I think it was a brilliant move on the part of the committee to have more kid-friendly activities. Apart from drawing more families to the event, it made the whole evening feel more like a social get-together where the focus was on celebrating victories over cancer, remembering those who have lost the battle, and symbolically fighting cancer as a community.Congrats to the Unit's successful event and I'm looking forward to next year's.
