McMaster’s Engineering Society and McMaster’s Relay For Life host a Halloween-themed fundraising event to support the Canadian Cancer Society
McMaster’s chapter of Relay For Life and the McMaster Engineering Society came together to host their first Haunt for a Cure event on Oct. 26, 2024, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The event was held at the John Hodgins Engineering Field and aimed to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society.
Co-president of McMaster's Relay For Life, Emma Detomasi, expressed excitement about the collaboration ahead of the event.
“In a sense, it’s a mini Relay for Life event. All the funds that are raised go through McMaster relay directly to the Canadian Cancer Society … There’s going to be a luminary ceremony which is meant to honour survivors. There’s going to be cancer survivors coming to speak at the event and alongside that all the people attending the event are going to be doing different activities,” said Detomasi.
Chloe Ko, the survivors and ceremonies coordinator of Relay For Life, highlighted that her favourite part of the event is the luminary ceremony held on the John Hodgins Engineering Field. “Everybody gets a bag, it's called a luminary and they get to write why they relay ... we put a candle in it, and w light them all up and line the track with them. We just get to have a solemn moment around the track,” she said.
The main part of the event was the luminary walk-a-thon to honour lives affected by cancer. Attendees also enjoyed live music and activities including sports, line dancing and games. Tickets were sold through Eventbrite at $15 for general admission and $10 for McMaster students.
The planning for the event was a joint effort between McMaster Relay for Life and the engineering society, made possible through Kristina Siiman. Siiman is the other co-president of McMaster Relay for Life and a community integration coordinator for the McMaster Engineering Society.
“It’s our first time running it [Haunt for a Cure]. It’s in association with the McMaster Engineering Society … but all the funds go to McMaster Relay ... We’re hoping to make it an annual thing,” said Detomasi.
Both Detomasi and Ko noted the significance of including stories from cancer survivors at this event. “That’s another great way for people to feel like what they’re doing has an impact because they’re hearing it from a survivor, someone who’s walked through this journey themselves ... It’s also really great for survivors who attend the event," said Ko.
As they look to the future, both leaders expressed hope for the event’s growth. “It’s our [Relay at Mac's] 20th year and we’ve raised over 1.25 million dollars,” said Detomasi.
It’s our [Relay at Mac's] 20th year and we’ve raised over 1.25 million dollars.
Emma Detomasi, Co-President
McMaster Relay For Life
Detomasi and Ko encouraged students to get involved, emphasizing that even small contributions can lead to significant change. “Even though you are one person attending the event, just showing up, it does make a huge difference,” said Ko.
“Life is bigger than cancer. Together, we are bigger than cancer,” concluded Ko, summarizing the spirit of the event.
Life is bigger than cancer. Together, we are bigger than cancer.
Chloe Ko, Survivors and Ceremonies Coordinator
McMaster Relay for Life
The inaugural Haunt for a Cure event provided both a fun and festive atmosphere and reinforced the importance of community support in the fight against cancer. Keep up with McMaster Relay for Life and the McMaster Engineering Society through their social media platforms for future events, information and more!
Students donated their hair at halftime during the Shoot for the Cure women's basketball game
On Jan. 17, McMaster Athletes Care hosted their Shoot for the Cure initiative aimed towards awareness and fundraising for breast cancer research.
The event comes as the 17th annual edition run by the national U Sports organization to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society and additional related charities. Last year, collective efforts by U Sports and Canadian university sports teams and communities helped to bring in a total of $115,000.
The event comes as the 17th annual edition run by the national U Sports organization to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society and additional related charities.
This season, the McMaster University women’s basketball team set up a fundraising page on the CCS website to donate pledges towards research for improving cancer treatments, prevention and support services.
On Jan. 17, the Marauders hosted the University of Guelph Gryphons in a match at Burrduge Gymnasium in Hamilton. During halftime of the women’s basketball game, volunteers received haircuts to help support the initiative.
During halftime of the women’s basketball game, volunteers received haircuts to help support the initiative.
Along with the haircuts, t-shirts were also sold for $15 by McMaster Athletes Care, with proceeds going towards the CCS.
The Shoot for the Cure event will run from Jan. 17 to 31. Donations can be made generally to the CCS or towards registered Shoot for the Cure participants and teams through their website. So far, the Nipissing University Lakers have raised the most money across participating universities, collecting $3,541.06 out of their $5,000 goal.
Per the CCS’ Impact page, donations will go towards funding cancer research, government and policy advocacy and developing a country-wide cancer support system.
Relay For Life at Mac to hold virtual events due to provincial COVID guidelines
C/O McMaster Relay for Life
On March 27, 2021, McMaster’s annual Relay for Life event will run to help fundraise for the battle against cancer. The event will look very different from past years, but going virtual hasn’t discouraged the volunteers in their efforts to host yet another successful event.
On March 27, 2021, McMaster’s annual Relay for Life event will run to help fundraise for the battle against cancer. The event will look very different from past years, but going virtual hasn’t discouraged the volunteers in their efforts to host yet another successful event.
During the 2019-2020 school year, Relay for Life managed to raise well over $100,000 in donations. In 2021, the bar has been set to match the previous goal of $100,000. As of publication, the goal has already been 13 per cent fulfilled despite the events having not yet started.
In a typical school year, students can expect to find a one-day event at the David Braley Athletic Centre gyms where Relay for Life hosts athletics competitions, a luminaire event and other awareness/fundraising activities. This year, Relay will have a week full of activities leading up to their event day, which will still include several festivities such as escape rooms, guest speakers and more.
“We have some mystery speakers that still have yet to be announced, but one of the ones that we have revealed is Bruce Buffer from the UFC,” said Diana Aviles, one of the event coordinators.
“We have some mystery speakers that still have yet to be announced, but one of the ones that we have revealed is Bruce Buffer from the UFC.”
Diana Aviles
Another annual event that many look forward to is the luminary ceremony. Aviles spoke highly about this event, referring to it as one of her favourite moments.
“The [luminary] event is a moment of unity, reflection and silence that goes on during the event . . . Every participant that comes to the event gets a baggie and it’s where you write why you relay. It’s an opportunity to honour loved ones, or really just share why you are taking part in the event and why it means something to you. Then you put a little candle in it and it lights it up. Usually, they’re put around the gym and you walk around while everyone commemorates everyone else's loved ones. That is still happening this year,” said Aviles.
In 2021, the luminary ceremony will shape up differently than in past years, but it is still set to continue. This year instead of providing candles and bags, Relay for Life is recommending a piece of paper and a flashlight, which can offer a similar effect.
“You can put your flashlight up to it and still hold that meaningful moment of silence and the heartfelt part of the event. That’s tradition for the [Relay for Life], so it’s important that it comes back year after year,” said Aviles.
Cancer affects the lives of many, both directly and indirectly. Holding a moment of silence to commemorate those who have passed on has become a major event at the core of Relay for Life.
Cancer affects the lives of many, both directly and indirectly. Holding a moment of silence to commemorate those who have passed on has become a major event at the core of Relay for Life.
Each year, many volunteers and participants come out to join the event in their attempt to help battle cancer. However, due to the pandemic, many have fallen on financial hardships and donating can become a difficult task for many. Fortunately, Mahnoor Akram, another event coordinator, spoke about the ways people can contribute without the need for monetary donations.
“We have volunteering opportunities that you can participate in . . . Volunteers basically help us and ensure that events are going to run properly on the day of. They work with our volunteer coordinator and test out the virtual events that our event coordinators have set up. That’s one opportunity to get involved. Another thing they can do is just advocacy — so reporting our stuff on their stories, or coming to our events or helping gain more awareness on cancer initiatives,” said Akram.
One awareness event currently in motion mentioned by Akram was Colour of the Month. Different types of cancer are associated with different colours and each month contributors wear the colour of a given type of cancer and post pictures of themselves to aid in raising awareness. In March, burgundy should be worn, representing multiple myeloma.
“Advocacy is really difficult right now, especially online and it can be hard to get the word out sometimes . . . Hopefully one day we won’t have to relay for a cure because we are celebrating that we found a cure. I’m really hoping for that day to happen really soon so we can hopefully beat cancer together,” said Akram.
“Advocacy is really difficult right now, especially online and it can be hard to get the word out sometimes . . . Hopefully one day we won’t have to relay for a cure because we are celebrating that we found a cure. I’m really hoping for that day to happen really soon so we can hopefully beat cancer together.”
Mahnoor Akram
A cure for cancer might still be a long way away, but it will never end if the relay never starts.
For more details, visit the McMaster Relay For Life website.
Mac Athletes Care raise over $5,400 for the Juravinski Cancer Center
Each year at McMaster University, many athletes from different sports around the school unite to strengthen the athletic charitable efforts with Mac Athletes Care.
This past week, their objective was to help promote awareness and fundraise for the Think Pink initiative — an annual project surrounding the battle against breast cancer.
Briana Da Silva, a field hockey player and member of Mac Athletes Care who has been active in the Think Pink initiative, spoke about the organization.
“The Think Pink campaign is all about raising funds and spreading awareness around breast cancer. In some way or another cancer has impacted all of us and it is beyond important for us to do what we can. Typically Think Pink would have a wide range of running events, from bake sales and raffles to spikeball tournaments and shoot for the cure,” said Da Silva.
The COVID-19 pandemic has cast difficult times on many during the pandemic. Many organizations inside and outside of McMaster had to undergo serious change in order to keep running successful operations.
In wake of the pandemic, the Think Pink initiative looks much different than in previous years. In-person event programming has become a well-known fixture of Think Pink week. However due to limitations brought by COVID-19, this had to change.
“Since we cannot fundraise or have in-person events, we had to switch everything completely virtual. This limited the options of events we could host and online engagement tends to be lower than in person,” added Da Silva.
“Since we cannot fundraise or have in-person events, we had to switch everything completely virtual. This limited the options of events we could host and online engagement tends to be lower than in person,” added Da Silva.
Megh Rathod, a men’s rugby player and active participant in the annual event, discussed some of the hardships the organization has undergone recently, with the pandemic being one of two tragic events to have happened to Mac Athletes Care.
“It’s been a challenge as well because we don’t really have a staff sponsor or supervisor this year. . . The second challenge is what can we do in terms of the initiative. Usually, we rely on people being able to spare a couple dollars at the David Braley Athletic Centre, but we realized that with COVID, money might be a bit more of a constraint and it would be more difficult to get one or two dollar donations through an online platform,” said Rathod.
As such, the Mac Athletes Care team realized that an information campaign was more suited for this year, given the initiative being run online.
“We built an awareness campaign. That was something that we didn’t really cover much in the past. This year we shifted information to be more when you should get screened, or who should be concerned, breast cancer and its prevalence and some statistics to inform individuals and begin that conversation. It was a new addition this year that we hope to carry forward . . . Last year we were really successful in raising $5,400, usually because we can really take advantage of DBAC and the facilities and the in-person traffic and we usually set up tables there over the week,” said Rathod.
As effective and important as awareness can be, the club understands the importance of raising funds to put towards the Juravinski Cancer Center and has continued to attempt fundraising.
“With things looking a little differently this year, we are selling masks and t-shirts through the campus store and the proceeds will go towards Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre Foundation. On our Instagram page, we have some neat infographics and there is also the virtual “shoot for the cure” happening as well,” said Da Silva.
Cancer is a hard fought battle that many have unfortunately lost to and although individual efforts might not be enough to cure the vicious disease, each contribution makes a difference, taking a step closer to the end goal.
The ongoing pandemic has made things more difficult for the Think Pink initiative, but Mac Athletes Care hasn’t given up and is ready to keep battling this together.
