Candler Lowe, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor
Berry’s Relay for Life committee will host Relay for Life, a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society, on Friday at 6 p.m. Walk MS Rome, a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, will take place on Berry’s campus on at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Both events are designed to not only raise awareness and money to research a cure, but to provide services to those living with cancer and MS.
Although Relay for Life at Berry will be a little different from last year’s event because it is being held on the Cage front lawn instead of inside the Cage, like it has been in the past, junior Caroline Lee, the event chair for Relay for Life at Berry and co-president of Colleges against Cancer, hopes that the event will be better than ever.
Lee, who has worked alongside senior Maria Santos to make Berry’s Relay for Life take off, said that the event is the American Cancer Society’s biggest of the year and the biggest fund raiser.
According to Lee, the funding goes to research because their main goal is to end cancer. They also realize that there is more to cancer than just finding a cure and advocate for cancer patients to receive the medical care and accommodations that they need.
Many clubs and organizations around campus help fundraise for the event. All of the proceeds from the Pink Out campaign that took place in October at a Berry football game, will go to Relay for Life, the Leadership Fellows have raised over $600 for the cause and SGA sponsored the special guest singer Kennedy Noel, a two-time cancer survivor.
Lee is passionate about the cause and the community that it creates. She is looking forward to another great year for Relay for Life.
“Making this event something that people at Berry will remember is definitely something that is pretty near and dear to our hearts,” Lee said.
Walk MS, which has grown stronger at Berry over the past three years, is an opportunity for Rome and Berry to join together to raise awareness for people living with MS. The objective of the walk is to raise funds and provide those affected by MS life-changing services.
Tony Kunczewski, Berry’s head football coach and co-captain of Walk MS with Janna Johnson, lecturer of mathematics, has been instrumental in putting the event together and said that the support of Walk MS at Berry has grown.
“We are so thankful for how this walk has been rejuvenated on our campus over the last three years,” Kunczewski said.
Both events involve communities outside of Berry. In fact, after this year’s event, the Relay for Life committee is considering holding next year’s off campus in order to further involve the Rome community.
“We think it is neat to explore the community feel and interact with local people in Rome,” Lee said.