Our 12-Some Darn Good Ideas For Survivorship & How to Find Them!

HOW TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN SURVIVORS!
Keep Track of Survivors! – Not all events do this very well…! Keep a survivor list with emails & phone numbers, and keep your survivors on your mailing/call/email lists YEAR AROUND SO THEY KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON! MANY EVENTS DON’T KEEP THEIR SURVIVORS LINKED!
Look for Survivors at the Locations that they Frequent! - Place Relay Information at hospitals, doctor’s offices, support groups, pharmacies, etc. Those locales have high survivor traffic. Keep a list of places like that around town.
Ask the Survivors you have on what survivor related groups they are exposed to – Doctors, Support groups, etc. – have them take information to those places.
Set a goal for each team to have a certain # of survivors… - Give each team a goal of how many survivors they must recruit, just like fundraising and everything else! One Relay doubled the # of survivors in a year this way…
Search online for local support groups and other Cancer-related groups that might be interested – Support groups or other organizations will often have websites or on-line info.
Have local hospitals put info in their cancer wards about Relay and your survivor reception
Advertise for survivors in the “Community Section” of your local newspaper or Penny Saver – these ads are free often!
Hold a Survivor’s Breakfast or Dinner – Several months before your event, hold a survivors’ breakfast or dinner and invite all the support groups in your area, post signs at local hospitals, etc., post signs at doctor’s offices, and so on. Invite your committee and seat at least one of them with each of the tables of survivors who come… Talk to them about Survivorship and Relay, and see if they will be involved!
Contact the following resources:
ACS Speaker Bureau – they will know survivors – some may be in your area!
Reach to Recovery program
Cancer Survivor Support Group – have them talk at a team captain’s meeting or the event to build a relationship with them.
Cancer Survivor Network
Have each survivor bring a friend who is also a survivor – Survivors often know others who have also battled cancer… Ask them to invite friends to a team captain’s meeting, kickoff, or the event!
See 12-Survivorship_&_Luminaria_R&R.doc under the Relay Chairman Checklist Manual… make sure you do those basics that every event should do!
Survivor Interest Story in the Newspaper – “I have found the best way to get the word out is in the newspapers as a public interest story and having them use your email to get the addresses…” Thanks to Eileen!
Start a Yahoo or Google Group on-line that survivors can find if they want to to talk to others – “Start a Yahoo group that links people together with a common interest.They are public access and easy to search and easy to run and can spread by word of mouth.” Thanks to Eileen

HOW TO KEEP SURVIVORS INVOLVED!
Ask Survivors to be on a committee
Enlist Survivors to be part of the entertainment committee
Have a survivor read the names during survivor lap
Have a survivor tell their story before the Luminaria service or during the Survivors Reception or in the Opening Ceremony
Have survivors thank the teams
Have survivors write thank-yous to sponsors

SURVIVORSHIP GIFTS/INCENTIVES/RECOGNITIONS
Angel pins for participants – Ask Survivors to find participants, give them a big hug, pin & thank them
Shirts and Pins - Try to use survivor shirts for the first year that a survivor participates, ask them to save it, and give them survivor pins for each year after.
Have centerpieces for Survivors to Take Home
Hand-print painting t-shirts - hand-print paintings on the back of survivor shirts (care-takers, or spouses place their hand-prints on the survivor's back.) – Thanks to Michael and http://relayamerica.com for this great idea!
Purple Relay Teddy Bears, Organza Bags, and Magnet – “We bought purple ( small) organza bags ( very inexpensive), small teddy bears with little banners that said 2005 Relay, a purple wristband and a cool round magnet ( that looked like a stone) that says CELEBRATE. It was received warmly by men, women and children” – Thanks to Pam R. for this one!
Here are some other items to take a look at!:
· Survivorship medals
http://www.costore.com/relaystuffcatalog/productenlarged.asp?peid=212&pid=388488
· Survivor wristband: ($1)
https://www.costore.com/relaygear/productenlarged.asp?peid=284&pid=437810
· Cancer Survivor collectable pin ($2)
https://www.costore.com/relaygear/productenlarged.asp?peid=284&pid=325043
· Various pins and magnets
https://www.costore.com/relaygear/productthumbnails.asp?pg=3

SURVIVORS BREAKFAST/DINNER/RECEPTION SEPARATE OF EVENT
Hold a Survivor’s Breakfast or Dinner – Several months before your event, hold a survivors’ breakfast or dinner and invite all the support groups in your area, post signs at local hospitals, etc., post signs at doctor’s offices, and so on. Invite your committee and seat at least one of them with each of the tables of survivors who come… Talk to them about Survivorship and Relay, and see if they will be involved! Some other things to do to make it more interesting are:
Hold a Luminaria Ceremony
Have a pinning ceremony
SURVIVORSHIP ACTIVITIES AT EVENT
Spotlight Dance – “I'm planning on doing a "spotlight" dance just for the survivors, since we'll be having live entertainment & ample space for a dance floor.” (thanks to Amanda!)
Paper Quilt – “rather than sewn squares, I'm asking survivors to prepare a "quilt square" on regular letter-size paper - they'll be laminated, patched together & mounted on a sturdy, permanent backing, so we can add to it year-to-year.” (thanks to Amanda!)
Have a Kids Conquering Cancer Lap – After your Survivors Lap, have the Kids who are survivors stay on the track, cheer them, then let ALL kids join them next lap.
Drive the more fragile survivors around the track in a golf cart! – This will make it less indimidating for them to participate (thanks to Laurie Needham)
Links representing their years of survivorship - paperclips, paper loops, etc. at the end, the links are displayed at the survivor booth. – Thanks to Michael and http://relayamerica.com for this great idea!
Tree of Hope – Thanks for this great idea to Danielle D! Have a Survivor Tree of Hope, and have survivors bring ornaments to hang on it!

WAYS TO RECOGNIZE SURVIVORS & THOSE WE HAVE LOST
Hands of Hope! – “This past June we ( survivors too!!) took a white sheet- got a gallon of bright pink and one gallon of purple paint , rollers and thin latex ( and non) gloves. We asked each survivor to put on a glove, choose a color and we rolled the paint onto their gloved palm. They then placed their hand straight down onto the sheet and pulled it back up. Then with a sharpie they signed their name and how long they have been a survivor. It went over so well. Next year- we will do a new one- but we will hang the old one for all to see. For the survivor lap we will pin the sheet up ( so as not to drag it) and lead our lap with the sheet. At the top- right in marker 2006 ( then your town) Hands of Hope.” – A great ideas thanks to Pam and the Grand Rapids Relay For Life!


Recognizing the Family and Children of Survivors – Thanks to Jenjen84 for this idea! “I am in charge of getting the survivor things in order this year. And while I'm hard at work with that I have decided to try and do something a little different this year. I am a child of a cancer survivor (my mom is chairperson of the local Relay) and I always felt as if people didn't understand that the cancer doesn't just affect the person who has it, it also affects their family, especially the kids. So this year I am trying to raise money to get the children of the survivors a little something to let them know that we understand that it affects them too”
King and Queen of Relay @ Survivor Dinner - Nash County Relay (held in Rocky Mount, NC) chose a King and Queen at the Survivor Dinner this year. They were crowned and given a purple cape and at the relay on Friday night of the relay they were announced as the King & Queen when the survivors were announced and they led the lap for the survivors. This added to the opening of the relay and also made the survivors feel more important. It went over really well and we plan on doing this every year. (Thanks to Retha Pappas for this idea)
How to Pick the King And Queen – To keep it fair, choose each survivor that has been a survivor the longest... Do it as a icebreaker without announcing it - have them stand in a row by the # of years that they have been a survivor... Then have each of them say their name and # of years, from the least to the most... Clap for each one… Finally, have your survivor chair or a staff or celebrity or MC come out and crown the Relay King and Queen as the man and woman who have been survivors the longest! (suggested by Ramesh, Baltimore, MD)
Have survivors walk thru a balloon arch or ornamental arch and/or break a “paper banner” – (thanks to Laurie Needham)… Also thanks to Hawaii Shots for the picture below:

Wall of Memories – A beautiful “wall” that people write messages on at Relay… The backing can be plywood, and you can spread big sheets of butcher paper across it! A great survivor activity to honors those fighting and remember those we have lostl! This wonderful idea comes to us from Hawaii… thanks to Hawaii Shots for sharing these great pics from the Honolulu Relay For Life and Sandy Beach Relay For Life… See the following link to learn more:

http://relayblogger.typepad.com/relayblogger/2005/08/wall_of_memorie.html



· 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