With less than one month before the Relay for Life comes to Georgetown, organizers of the April 21 event say that they have already broken their fundraising goals and that the university may become one of the charity event’s largest all-time donors.
Since its kickoff in late January, Georgetown’s version of the American Cancer Society fundraiser has already attracted over 1,000 participants and raised over $99,000 – nearly double its initial goal. Lauren Goodman (MSB ’10), a member of the relay’s marketing committee, said that additional money has been pledged but has not been processed yet and included in the official fundraising count.
“The good thing is that there will probably be a lot more money coming in,” said Frank O’Driscoll (MSB ’08), a coordinator for the event. “The goal is a lot higher than it was before.”
The group now hopes to raise $300,000 for the event, which would make it the highest-raising Relay for Life ever at a university, Goodman said.
O’Driscoll attributed the strong fundraising success to the university community’s sense of commitment in and identification with charitable events like the Relay for Life.
“I think that it just shows how strong the Georgetown community is,” he said. “Relay for Life [goes] hand-in-hand with the type of student that Georgetown has.”
Almost 130 teams – each consisting of up to 15 members – have already registered, including some representing clubs and organizations on campus like the baseball team, Hoya Snaxa and the Georgetown Pep Band.
Sheila Reynolds (COL ’10), a captain of the event’s top fundraising team, Cloud 9, said that she and her cousin, Suzanne Joyce (COL ’10), invited their friends and families to join their team, which has already raised $5,520.
“We just e-mailed all of our family members,” Reynolds said.
Eric Bodzin (COL ’10), who is captain of a team composed of members from Alpha Epsilon Pi, also said that his fundraising efforts were mainly made by contacting friends. The team has already raised $2,345.
“I am glad to have been able to motivate the team,” Bodzin said. “I hope [we] continue to raise the money.”
A few groups on campus have collaborated with group organizers. The Corp is one of the main sponsors for the relay. Ted Reilly (COL ’08), the Corp’s president and chief executive officer, said that the company has already decided to offer between $5,000 and $7,000 for the event organizers to purchase supplies for the event.
Reilly added that some businesses run by the Corp will donate a portion of their tips to the relay, while others are engaged in a competition with each other to see which can raise the most money.
O’Driscoll said that it is hard to predict the total cost of the event, but said that organizers are trying to solicit donations to pay for the event so that it can mitigate its costs.
“Anything that goes into the event, we try to get it,” he said.
O’Driscoll added that most of the advertising for the event has been done by word-of-mouth, but added that the event’s organizing committee will continue a recruitment push in the coming weeks.
