About 600 walkers spent last Friday night strolling the Main Green for Brown's Relay For Life, an annual event that raises money and awareness for the American Cancer Society. This year, participants raised around $58,000, a substantial dip from last year's total that several involved in the event blamed on the current weakened state of the economy.
Despite the drop in fundraising - $79,000 were donated last year - "the event was definitely a success," said Sujata Gidumal '10, one of Relay's three co-chairs this year. She said the event last year drew a similar number of participants and that this year's "ran smoother than in previous years," according to what students with a long involvement in the event told her.
The relay started at 6 p.m. last Friday and ran until 6 a.m. on Saturday morning in recognition that "cancer never sleeps," Gidumal said.
The event featured talks from organizers and cancer survivors, the lighting of luminarias - decorated bags with candles inside - "to remember all of those who have suffered from cancer" and a "fight-back ceremony," in which participants made small pledges to fight cancer in their daily lives, Gidumal said.
Gidumal said one of the biggest challenges in putting on Brown's Relay for Life is keeping people at the event until its conclusion.
"In previous years, people would leave at around three or so, and then at around five. Everyone who's remaining tended to go to Loui's," the Brook Street eatery known for opening at 5 a.m., Gidumal said.
To combat fatigue this year, Gidumal said, organizers set up "Red Bull pong" starting at 3 a.m.
"People were definitely starting to wind down," Gidumal said. "Fifteen minutes (after starting), everyone was so hyper and running around with all that caffeine in them."
A special addition to the event this year, Loui's took breakfast orders for late night walkers at 4:30 a.m., delivering fresh meals at 5 a.m.
The event also featured a slew of other entertainment, including a live band, 22 performing student groups, morning yoga and a poker tournament to entertain walkers through the night. Professor of Neuroscience Michael Paradiso and Lecturer in Neuroscience John Stein also walked the route to show their support for the cause, Gidumal said.
Julie Mandolini-Trummel '08, who has participated in the event twice in the past, said that this year's relay "seemed to have a much lower turnout" than in previous years, and she also said the economic downturn negatively affected the donations her team - "Do It for Dumbledore" - raised.
The team, composed of a group of friends, was initiated by a friend at Brown who was diagnosed with skin cancer, Mandolini-Trummel said.
Of the 62 participating teams, "Do It For Dumbledore" came out on top for the night in team donations despite a late donation by the individual that would garner the second-place recognition. "Dumbledore" raised a total of $4,335, according to Mandolini-Trummel, while the second-place "Team Alan" came into the night with $3,985, according to an organizer..
The top individual fundraiser - the sole member of "Team Alan" - was Hilary Fischer-Groban '09. With a late donation, she ended up raising $4,495, but this did not count for the night's honors.
Fischer-Groban, whose father, Alan, has colorectal cancer, said she started collecting donations on Wednesday after setting up a "cute Web site" featuring her father, which she advertised to family and friends.
Of raising the funds in such a short time, Fischer-Groban said "it felt really good to do something."
Relay is "a non-negotiable thing that I do every year," Mandolini-Trummel said. "You see how important it is for moving research along."
