Amid the summer celebrations this June 2011, the Cancer Societies in Canada and the US will be hosting Relay for Life fundraiser. The event aims to support the Society's mission of saving lives and finding cures.

Relay for Life are overnight events where individuals and teams camp out at tracks, parks or other such gathering areas. The goal of the event is to keep at least one team member of the track or path at all times. The 12-hour event also raises funds for research into curing cancer.

US-based St. Edward's University is one of the newest organisations to join in the effort. Its College Against Cancer (CAC) group has been working to recruit student volunteers to spread awareness and action for the fight against cancer. Two St. Edward's students admit the difficulty of living a healthy life in a modern context, where one is surrounded by cigarettes and has more difficulty finding healthful food than junk food.

"I love that Relay for Life is really dependent on the community", said one student. The College Against Cancer group hopes to have recruited a substantial number of students and participants to do the symbolic walk by April 15. St. Edward's CAC group is still quite young, but is hoping to establish itself as a permanent part of university life.