ESU Helps Raise Nearly $16K During Annual Relay for Life

A total of $15,962 was raised in the fight against cancer as East Stroudsburg University and the American Cancer Society teamed up to host its annual Relay for Life on Friday, April 4.

The six-hour event brought hundreds of students and community supporters together inside Koehler Fieldhouse from 6 p.m. to midnight to celebrate survivors, recognize caregivers and honor lives lost to cancer.

Celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year, Relay for Life is also a major fundraiser for the American Cancer Society and, as such, a crucial tool for those battling cancer, said Lisa Hoey, senior community development manager for the American Cancer Society.

“Community events like this are important because it helps us promote programs and services that allow families to have access to care, it allows us to be present in the community, and as a fundraiser, it generates financial support for those programs and services for patients,” she said.

Jenn Herscap and her family came from nearby Reeders in Jackson Township to do their part in lending support. Herscap said she makes it a point to attend the event at ESU every year because of the impact it has on cancer awareness.

“Everybody knows someone who has been diagnosed with cancer or died from cancer and so until we find a cure we just have to be out here doing this and making people aware,” she said at a registration station in the lobby.

Further inside Koehler, hand-made signs offering encouragement to cancer patients hung on the walls while dozens of tables featuring student-led clubs and organizations lined the indoor track. There were also performances, a DJ, inflatables and games to keep spectators engaged.

The effort was evidence of students’ commitment to the cause, Herscap said.

“It gives hope for the future to see students are doing something like this and that they care,” she said.

One of those students was Emily Thran, a senior athletic training major from Warminster, Pa.

Thran first got involved in Relay for Life while supporting it as a member of the athletic training club during her freshman year. She now serves as president of ESU’s Colleges Against Cancer chapter. Going from a participant to one of the event’s main organizers has been a major contributor to her growth at ESU, she said.

“It’s so important to get involved because you make a lot of good friends, but you also make a lot of connections,” she said.

Thran said those connections are especially meaningful when putting together an event with the scale of Relay for Life, she said.

“So many people made this possible,” she said.

Athletic training graduate students Jadon Diaz, Allentown, Pa., and Alejandro Paez, Medford, NY, said they came out to support their fellow students. Seeing the turnout first-hand was inspirational, they said.

“For your university to be doing something like this that’s for a great cause, it definitely feels good to be a part of it,” Diaz said.

The event was especially meaningful to Paez, who has a family member battling cancer, he said.

“There are people whose family members might have cancer or have lost people to cancer that might not have an outlet to share their experiences because nobody really knows what it’s like until they have a family member facing it,” Paez said. “So, it’s a pretty big event that makes me proud to be going here.”

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