Georgetown Relay for Life, which will hold its annual relay event this Saturday, is on pace to best recent years’ fundraising numbers.
The group, which raises money year-round for the American Cancer Society, has raised $265,851 from 193 teams as of Wednesday night.
This year, student organizers employed a new strategy. Out of concern that in years past fall advertising was too heavy, they chose to hold back their serious fundraising campaign until the spring semester. However, when classes began in January some student organizers were concerned about the lagging numbers. While Georgetown Relay for Life typically donates more than $300,000 annually, less than 30 percent of participants actively fundraise.
“We started the semester close to $40,000 behind past years because of our new strategy and were worried we wouldn’t be able to make up the ground,” Mike Towler (MSB ‘11), chair of Georgetown Relay for Life, wrote in an email.
But the strategy worked. In recent weeks, the year-to-date donations surpassed those from 2010 and 2009, when the group ultimately raised a school record -breaking $403,000. Towler remains optimistic that they will top that figure by August, when the year’s fundraising formally ends.
Alexandra Panichella (COL ’14), currently the top individual fundraiser and a member of the top fundraising team at Georgetown, set her personal goal at $25,000. Panichella has been an active participant since she got involved seven years ago after a friend was diagnosed with cancer. This year, she’s already raised $21,765. Saturday’s event, when students will converge on Multi-Sport Field, has become a family affair for her.
“My whole family is coming in for the event,” she said. “They are such a big part of the process.”
According to Towler, approximately 3,000 to 3,500 people will turn out for the event, depending on the weather.
“Last year’s event suffered a good amount of rain and a ton of wind,” he wrote. “We feel like this hurt attendance but I think it came in under 2,800. The forecast for Friday is looking great, so hopefully we will have better attendance than last year.”
