Torch Relay! (click on this link for details)
Torch Relay – This is a great survivorship idea patterned after the Olympics – basically, you have your survivors and caregivers (or if you want, other leaders of your Relay, too) first light the torch, and then take it on a parade… Some events take a loop of your city (with news coverage following along), and then return to your Relay where the torch is kept lit all night… It makes a lap of the track with a survivor for the survivors lap, a caregiver for the caregiver’s lap, and every half hour, it is passed from one survivor to the next, to keep it going all night long to always remind us of the survivors who we Relay for and those who we remember who have lost the battle with cancer… in the morning – a large torch at the event can be lit to commemorate the completion of “relaying”. Each event does it a little differently, but the above was a combination of the best ideas.
Peninsula Relay Torch Relay – This Torch Relay takes a loop thru Hampton and Newport News, VA before returning to Todd Stadium and lighting a very large torch at the stadium! The Torch also makes the survivors lap with a survivor.
Kathy Cawthon and her husband created the Torch Relay for this event… Here are her thoughts about it!:
“My husband and I created the torch relay for the Peninsula Relay For Life when our event outgrew its original site and the committee decided to open a second site in a nearby city. The distance between the two stadiums was about 15 miles, so we mapped out a course, divided each mile in half, and invited about 50 ‘Honored Torch Bearers’ to carry the ‘flame of hope’ from the original Relay site to the new one.
We began with a committee that solicited nominations for the honored torch bearers, and the committee agreed that these should be cancer survivors, caregivers and medical professionals who work in the field of oncology. Once we had our nominations, the committee selected the ones to invite. We tried to have a good mix of older folks, children and teenagers, as well as survivors and caregivers. We had beautiful invitations printed because we wanted to make it very clear to everyone that this was a HUGE honor. Each invitee was given a deadline by which to RSVP, and each invitee was told he or she could ask family and friends to be his or her ‘escorts.’ So a breast cancer survivor carried the torch and was escorted by her husband and children, an elderly colon cancer survivor carried the torch and was escorted by her son and grandson, a doctor carried the torch and was escorted by his staff, a kidney cancer survivor (my husband!) carried the torch and was escorted by the surgeon who saved his life, and so on. There were lots of great stories out there that day.
About a week before Relay, we had a meeting with all of the torch bearers. They were given a special t-shirt (a sponsor donated these), told where their position would be to wait for the torch on the day of Relay and what time to be there (they were told to be there ½ hour early and not to be alarmed if the torch was up to ½ hour late – we had to allow for delays or getting ahead of schedule), and during the meeting we passed the torch around (unlit, of course) so that each of them could see how heavy it was. We answered any questions they had that evening.
On the day of Relay, we had a torch lighting ceremony on the stage at the original Relay site around 10 a.m. The first few torch bearers relayed the torch around the track (this is a good place to position torch bearers who are not well enough to go out on the road) and we played inspirational music over the loud speakers (“I Will Walk With You” and some other songs) before the torch left the stadium and was taken out on the road. It was then relayed at ½-mile intervals to the other stadium. It took about 8 hours, I think. We had made arrangements way in advance with city police, traffic engineering and emergency units so that our torch bearers had a clear traffic lane the entire way, a police escort and an emergency vehicle behind. We also had a ‘chase van’ right behind the torch bearer and his or her escorts so that they always had access to water or a ride if they needed it (but no one wanted to ride!). A newspaper photographer donated a day of his personal leave to ride in the chase van and each time the torch was handed off, he got out and took a photograph. When it was over, he gave us the film, we had it developed, and sent each torchbearer a photograph of himself or herself with the torch. It was such an amazing day. People poured out of their businesses to watch and cheer, and one school let all of their students come out to the roadside and cheer our torch bearers on.
We purchased our torch from Midwest Trophy Company in Kansas City, and we had the Relay logo engraved on it. Their website is www.kcmidwesttrophy.com but there may be other companies that you can find on the internet that sell Olympic style torches. One thing we learned was that you cannot light a torch that is already hot. Ours will burn for only about 45 minutes before it runs out of oil. So we lit it at the stadium at the beginning of the torch relay, and then when it went out, we just left it out. When it got to the second stadium that evening, just in time for their opening ceremonies, it was lit again right outside the stadium (the chase van carried extra oil to refill the torch) and carried into the stadium lit. There were torch bearers positioned around the track to relay it around several times (again, this is a good place to position those who aren’t well enough to go out on the road with the torch), and great music was blasting over the loudspeakers. The crowd went wild when the torch came into the stadium! It was awesome and powerful, and everyone was in tears. We had a cauldron that had been made and donated by a local metal works company and it was way up in the stadium. We selected a very special honored torchbearer to carry the torch up into the stadium and light the cauldron. It was a beautiful 11-year old girl who was battling brain cancer. Her father helped her carry the torch up into the stadium to light the cauldron.
The first torch relay was such a success that the original site said, “Now we want you to do it again next year and bring it back!” That was because they didn’t get to see it come into the stadium and the cauldron lit. So the next year we did the whole thing backwards! Now we use the torch as part of our opening ceremonies. It doesn’t go out on the road because there’s really nowhere for it to go. We select 8-10 honored torchbearers each year to relay it around the track (each one carries it about 1/6 of the way around the track) and then 2 or 3 of them relay it up the steps to the cauldron. It is a very powerful moment and a great way to open a Relay. We let the cauldron burn throughout our Relay (it is roped off by the fire department to keep curious kids away from it, and members of the fire department take turns sitting up in the stands by the cauldron until it’s time to extinguish it during our closing ceremonies.”
Check out the pictures – they are very inspirational!
http://www.peninsularelay.org/Torch%20Relay%202001.htm
http://www.peninsularelay.org/Torch%20Relay%202002.htm
http://www.peninsularelay.org/2005/2005photogallerynpn.htm
- some great torch pictures including passing the torch and lighting the big torch!
St. Augustine Relay For Life Torch Relay – Read a newspaper article (courtesy of the St. Augustine Times) about the Torch Relay at their event – 15 people carry the torch in the opening ceremony… and thru the Victory Lap. They pass the torch from person to person who has been touched by cancer, until all the people who have been chosen to be torch bearers are on the track… :
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/050903/new_1523508.shtml
Roanoke Relay For Life - The Torch is carried from the ACS office to Roanoke Stadium – read more at:
www.roanokerelay.org/May04.pdf
Fayette County, GA Relay For Life - A torch to light the luminaria and memorial tribute torches that are sold for the event. The torch starts at the Courthouse, and is relayed with an honor guard of motorcyclists!!!! Each person to carry the torch is a survivor... The torch winds its way thru the city to the event, where it is used to light tribute torches and luminaria. Thanks to the Citizen News! See Luminaria DGI’s for descriptions of the Tribute Torches! See below for the article about this Relay’s Torch Relay:
http://pdf.thecitizennews.com/main/archive-050504/w-02_relay.html
Click on the link above for even more ideas or click below:
http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/12-Survivorship_And_How_To_Keep_Them_Involved_DGIs.doc
Good luck!
posted by R @ 8:37 PM
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