We relayed until our hair fell out ...

Well, my avatar's feet are soaking in a bowl of virtual water and I need bandages on my typing fingers. It's amazing, we raised over $200,000 real US dollars. Fay (Fayandria Foley, our Event Chair) challenged all of the RFL of SL Planning Committee to go bald for a month if we raised $200K. And we did. Here's the proof ... (I seem to be brandishing a pair of giant scissors ...) I am so proud of being part of the team that made this possible.

The survivor and caregiver lap

All of the months of organization paid off and we finally set out from ten different starting points on the Relay for Life of Second Life survivor and caregiver lap. We had more than 130 avatars registered beforehand, and although some couldn't make it, we had an estimated 120 pink and purple shirts on the lap at one time.

My camera controls froze so I couldn't take pictures of the lap itself, but here are the pictures of the survivor camp and starting points.

The survivor campsite, designed by Stella Costello

This was one of the nine survivor starting points around the 35 sims with those amazing survivor cherry trees in the background.

Flash and Poppy get ready for the opening lap

Cinders gets her skates on ...

Above two pics show some of the 80 survivor pictures lining the walk

Gone, but not forgotten ... these luminaria pay tribute to our survivor heroes, many of whom walked the Survivors Lap with us last year.

H is for Heroes ... and for HOPE

We're off! Just take a look at this ... all of those green dots are avatars walking for cancer ... for Relay for Life. Covering 35 sims! The 'H' is for Heroes, the theme of this year's Relay for Life of Second Life. And it stands for HOPE, too.



For more information see: http://www.rflofsl.org/

Only two days to go ...

With only TWO days to go until the start of Relay for Life of Second Life, the Survivors / Caregivers Committee members have been burning lots of candles at both ends to get our part ready in time.

The survivors and caregivers are honored to walk the opening lap, which starts at 11 am SL time on Saturday.

Pre-registration closes today and Dwen Dooley, who has set up an awesome registration form on the web, emailed me yesterday to say we have 119 avatars signed up. That's already around twice the number who took part last year, and we're expecting more to register today, so we're very very relieved that we now have eight starting points and can avoid lag as far as possible.

This year we also have a team of greeters, coordinated by HollyJean Allen, who will answer questions, give out T-shirts, and generally help everyone to have a memorable experience.

Stella Costello has done an amazing job of designing and building us a survivors campsite, and Barnesworth Anubis has built us a walkway to display around 80 survivor pictures which were collected by Harper Montgomery. Stella and Barnes are two great designers who know how to combine bold lines and simple but very effective colors and I am just SO excited about it opening for the public. Come and see us there when you're in world, on the Heroes 3 sim.

Elizabeth Antonelli is responsible for collecting the music which is played on T1 Radio during the Survivors/Caregivers Lap and at other times. SL's musicians have donated 17 'Songs of Inspiration'.

Meanwhile, Marissa Goodliffe and I have been putting the finishing touches to the starting points and we're preparing a gift bag for the survivors and caregivers.

Marissa and Poppy putting out road markers by the Survivors and Caregivers camp

Getting ready for this year's Relay has already been a memorable experience. I've made so many new friends. I've laughed, and I've cried, with survivors who have contacted me in the past few weeks to ask if they can join us on the lap. I've heard so many touching stories.

Come and cheer us on, on Saturday, and don't forget to get to the sims early. The opening ceremony is at 10 am and will be streamed throughout by T1 Radio. And if you are a survivor or caregiver, contact me (survivors), Marissa Goodliffe (caregivers) or Dwen Dooley (registration) to find out how you can take part.

Why do I Relay?

I was recently asked to write a short piece about "Why do I Relay" for the RFL of SL blog.

The main purpose of Relay is to raise money for cancer research, and to find a cure. But my personal reason for relaying goes beyond that, to reaching out to the many many people who hear those words 'I'm sorry, we found cancer', providing support where possible, and to making support services more visible.

Organizations such as the American Cancer Society do more than raise money for research, they fund valuable support and advocacy services such as the Cancer Survivors Network, and promote programs such as "Look Good, Feel Better" (for breast cancer survivors), "Man to Man" (for prostate cancer survivors) and the Cancer Advocacy Network.

So that's why I relay.

Here's a link to what I wrote:

http://www.rflofsl.org/?p=269