…For a Cure!!

As you might be aware, the Relay for Life in Second Life campaign kicked off with a “bang” on March 13th!   Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature fundraising activity and there are Relays held by 100s of communities in the US and other countries around the world.  RFL of SL is not much different, tho the reach is broader within this global community.  This awesome fund-raising activity started with an awesome kick off party held in the beautifully built Patch Thibaud Theatre, attended by many.  The location was graciously made available by Frolic Mills, an avid supporter for the RFL of SL campaign.  During the kick off event, we heard from all the RFL of SL Committee Chairpersons and learned what each are responsible for.  This is not an overnight team, only in it during the next few months!  This team is involved year-round with maybe a few days break after the actual Relay weekend.  This team has pulled together resources for better scripted kiosks, newly designed event boards, more efficient vendors, etc etc etc.  These committee chairs have worked tirelessly to build their committees and focus on the full fund-raising event!

RFL of SL is a four-month campaign ending in July with the actual Relay weekend, a 24 hour track event held on multiple sims (last year around 40-50) set up with a track.  This track is lined with team campsites that each have a message.  This last event mirrors a real-life Relay for Life event in that for 24 hours, at least one team member from each team (and many many more) stay on the track and walk, run, skate, move all the way around.  A lap on this track has taken over an hour at times of severe lag and can be quite frustrating, but each team member remains persistent and finishes!!  It is a great day and so much is experienced listening to the audio stream with stories from survivors, caregivers and fund-raisers – each with a personal story that can touch most anyone’s heart.  It makes it all come alive for each avatar participating!

This will be my 3rd year participating with a team in the campaign and we are looking forward to a wonderful fund-raising season!   There are over 90 teams participating this year in RFL of SL, and many are new.  Each team is unique and the sizes range from 2 or 3 to over 100 members.  The team that I belong to is called Eternal Beacon, and our motto is “United to serve as an everlasting force for cancer awareness and to keep the light of hope shining for everyone it affects”.  Several of our members have been directly or indirectly impacted by this disease and all of us Relay in memory or honor of special people in our lives or to honor those caregivers who have helped.

Fundraising in SL isn’t always easy, as you can imagine.  However the RFL in SL committees work directly with the American Cancer Society to ensure that all is managed appropriately.   RFL in SL has been a successful fund-raiser for  American Cancer Society Relay for Life over the years:

• 2008 – over $215,000 USD were raised by all teams in SL
• 2009 – over $275,000 USD were raised by all teams in SL

Check out the RFL of SL webpage on the American Cancer Society site.  Along the left hand side of any RFL of SL website, you will see links that provide all sorts of good information that will assure you that this charity fund-raising is very legitimate!

The Eternal Beacon team is a small but hard-working and dedicated group.  We support all fundraising activities within the RFL of SL season and it is important to note that this is not a competition for which team can raise the most linden, it is a combined effort of all teams for the common goal… raising funds to fight this disease and fund efforts by the American Cancer Society to find a cure!

Our team, Eternal Beacon, has had very good success for the past 2 years as well.

• 2008 – over 1.3 million Linden raised
• 2009 – over 1.1 million Linden raised

Our team also has a page under the RFL of SL pages at the ACS website – click here!  And if you want to see how my own fund-raising is going outside of Second Life (yes we can collect USD outside SL and Linden – in world), check out my homepage here!

If you’d like to get involved, contact me for more info!  We can set up a donation kiosk at your location, we have event boards that list all the RFL of SL related events and  if you are a creator and would like to sell an item with all proceeds going to RFL of SL, we even have vendor boards for that!  🙂

We hope that this fund-raising season will be a good, productive one.  It certain to be fun-filled, emotional, busy, etc.  Watch here (and flickr) for info on upcoming events too!!!

’til next time, enjoy life!

~Sunshine