Friday night Colorado Mesa’s colleges against cancer club hosted their sixth annual Relay for Life event. The relay lasted for 12 hours from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.

The goal of this event was to raise money for both the American Cancer Society and for the Ryan Teixeira scholarship fund. The club was selling #17 strong shirts for the cause throughout the night along with other donation opportunities.

“We just really wanted to commemorate him and raise money for his scholarship fund that they have,” club member Molly Rabon said about putting this relay on in honor of Teixeira. “So, all the money for these shirts are going to his scholarship fund. […] We just really wanted to show our support.”

The club raised over $4,000 over the course of two months of planning, including the event, which is less time than the club normally should collect raise money for the cause.

“The club is made up of seniors and we were not going to do [the relay] this year. And so, we didn’t start planning in August like we usually do,” club member Katie Perrion said. “But then come January we decided that we couldn’t graduate without putting on relay for life so we planned it in two months.”

There were several clubs and organizations that participated in the event, including Alpha Sigma Alpha, Kappa Sigma, Theta XI and club soccer (who was in charge of the #17 strong shirts).

“It is cool and fun,” Alpha Sigma Alpha member Sierra McHugh said about attending the event.

This event has been a great way for the campus to come together with the community over the last six years.

“The community builder,” Perroni said when asked about what her favorite part of being a part of the event was. “Being a cancer survivor it means a lot to see my school and community come together to support such a worthy cause and I just love being a part of something bigger than myself.”

To donate to the American Cancer Society visit https://donate3.cancer.org.