Don’t Miss It! In this issue:

• Lots of prizes for reaching your fundraising goal

• Calling all Survivors! • Volunteers Wanted • Relay Market is back • Relay For Life has an app • How to raise $700 in 7 days • Find out why Team NGU

Fight Club Relays • Team fundraising ideas for

everyone and what some teams are doing

Spring is finally here and teams are signing up to Relay and fundraising

We want to make Winnipeg’s 12th Annual Relay For Life the biggest yet, and you can help make that happen by registering now and recruiting your team. Just visit www.relayforlife.ca to start your Relay experience.

Registering for the 2013 Relay is easy! If you took part last year, we still have your profile. Just login using the same email address and password as last year. Need some help, contact Jill Somers at jsomers@mb.cancer.ca

Winnipeg’s 12th Annual Relay for Life will be here before you know it!

Winnipeg Relay For Life – May 24, 2013 at Shaw Park, Home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes

Click here for the Winnipeg Relay website

For more information, contact (204) 789-0884 or winnipegrelayforlife@mb.cancer.ca

32 Sleeps until Relay!

There’s still lots of time to reach your fundraising goal and make a difference. Inside this addition of Relay Rap we’ve got tools to help you and some great in-centives including Air Canada flights

Tell the world why you Relay Customize your fundraising page to tell the world why you’re joining the fight or go to our facebook page to post your message or pic-ture. Tweet your message to the world and be sure to use the hash tag #WPGrelay.

2012 Relay goals will have big impact 75th Anniversary contests provides teams and

individuals chances to win by fundraising We Relay to have impact. That’s why, based on past performance and experience in other markets similar in size, the Winnipeg Relay For Life organizing committee set ambitious targets for 2013.

We’re looking for each of the 100 teams that we ex-pect to register to raise about $3,000 each.

Sounds like a lot but it’s really a little less than what the average pledging amount was last year. That means that by working together, we’ll raise $300,000 to fight ALL cancers and support Manitobans on a cancer journey.

Right now, we’re nearly two-thirds of the way there. With your help we can reach our goal by May 3rd simply tapping into your network of friends and co-workers and getting them to register for Relay For Life.

With spring finally arriving, this is also your chance to get involved in some team fundraising. It’s a fun way to raise money for an important cause.

To celebrate the Canadian Cancer Society’s 75 years of leading the can-cer fight, our generous sponsors have provided prizes as a means of showing our appreciation for our Relay participants. In some cases, there are team prizes and in other cases, individuals will be recognized for their fundraising. Either way, it’s our way of saying thank you for your fund-raising efforts and thanks for joining the fight against ALL cancers.

Team Prize: Relay anywhere in North America

One lucky Relay For Life team will ex-perience the power of Relay by joining a different community to celebrate, re-member and fight back.

Each Relay team that raises $7,500 or more online in 2013 will be entered into a draw to win round-trip flights for (up to 10) team members to travel to a Relay For Life event of your choice in 2014, anywhere Air Canada flies in continental North America. This exciting prize includes two nights’ accommoda-tion and the approximate retail value of this prize is $25,000.

Click here for more information on the contest, including rules and regulations.

Individual Prizes: Help you see the country keep you in style

Participants who raise $750 or more online in 2013 will be entered into a draw to win a variety of prizes including:

• 10 prizes of two Via Rail travel vouchers valued at $1,700. Vouchers can be used to travel to any Via Rail destination in Canada.

• One of two $750 gift cards from JACOB, a leading Canadian women’s fashion re-tailer, including a free consultation for use in store or online.

Click here for more information on the con-test, including rules and regulations.

2013 Relay For Life Goals

Goal

Teams 100 with 10 Members

Survivors 250

Luminaries Sold 3,000

Individual Fundraising Goal $300

Team Fundraising Goal $3,000

Total Fund Raising $300,000

April Team Incentive Recruit a new team in April and you could win a Sky Suite at Shaw Park – Home of the Goldeyes for up to 20 people to watch one of the Winnipeg Gold-eyes games this season.

We are challenging each Team to recruit one new team captain to register in the 2013 Winnipeg Relay. For each new team captain you recruit, your team’s name will be entered into the draw. The more new teams you recruit, the more chances you have to win.

This contest closes on Friday, May 3 at noon. When you recruit a new team captain, please e-mail us the new team captain’s name at relayforlife_13@yahoo.ca and also include your name and team name. As soon as the new team captain is registered, your name will go on a ballot for the draw.

You improve your odds by forwarding this to your team.

2013 Relay For Life Goals

Goal

Teams 100 with 10 Members

Survivors 250

Luminaries Sold 3,000

Individual Fundraising Goal $275

Team Fundraising Goal $2,750

Total Fund Raising $275,000

Cancer doesn’t sleep so one night a year, neither do we There is no finish line until we find a cure – because of you, we’re one step closer

Relay is often defined as a celebration of life. While it can be a celebration characterized by fun and frivolity, Relay’s celebration can only truly be symbolized by the courage and spirit of the survivors and caregivers in your community.

One of the questions we’re always asked is: Why does Relay For Life start at dusk and end the next morning?

The light and darkness of the day and night parallel the physical effects, emotions and mental state of a cancer patient while undergoing treatment.

The Relay begins when the sun is setting. This symbol-izes the time that the person has been diagnosed with cancer. The day is getting darker and this represents the cancer patient’s state of mind as they feel their life is coming to an end.

As the evening goes on, it gets colder and darker, just as the emotions of the cancer patient do. When the night is the longest – between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.– represents the time when the cancer patient starts treatments. They become exhausted, some sick, not wanting to go on, possibly wanting to give up. As a participant, you have been walking and feel much the same way. You are tired, want to sleep, maybe even go home, but you cannot. You cannot stop or give up, just as the cancer patient cannot stop or give up.

The end of treatment for the cancer patient is symbol-ized between the 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. hour. Once again they are tired, but they know that they will make it.

The sun rising represents the end of treatment for the cancer patient. They see the light and know life will go on. The morning light brings on a new day full of life and excitement for new beginnings for the cancer pa-tient. As a participant, you will feel the brightness of the morning and know that the end of the Relay is close at hand.

When you leave the Relay, think of the cancer patient leaving their last treatment. Just as you are exhausted and weak, so is the person after treatment. But there is hope in the new day! The money raised at Relay will support patient services, lifesaving research, preven-tion education and fighting for change … that is why we Relay.

Cancer is relentless. It never stops. It never sleeps. So once a year, we gather to show it that we will not sleep either – not until we find a cure for cancer.

Save the Date

Survivor’s Reception Thursday, April 25, 2013

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Crescentwood Community Centre

1170 Corydon Avenue

Join us – and bring your caregiver – for a won-derful evening of sharing and celebration with

your Winnipeg Relay For Life friends

Enjoy some desert and light refreshments

RSVP to winnipegrelayforlife@mb.cancer.ca

or 204-789-0884

Bank Nights - Turn in you offline donations and pick your team campsite

Thursday May 16th and Tuesday May 21st

6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Canadian Cancer Society Offices at

193 Sherbrook Street

Please email relayforlife_2013@yahoo.ca to book your appointment

Remember to fill out your Team Captain’s report and bring it along with your team’s pledges

Team and Individual Draws and Contests We are bringing back some of the contests and draws from 2012!

          

Contests that will take place at Relay:

• Best team costume

• Best Decorated Tent

• Best Team Name

• Poker Lap

• Last Relayers Standing

So while you’re getting your team to-gether and decided on costumes and themes, keep these contests in mind!

Draws will be held for each of the following:

• Teams of 10 or more Participants

• Participants that raise a minimum of $400

• Teams that raise a minimum of $3000

• Teams that sell 20 Luminaries or more (offline)

Also, the top fundraising individuals and teams will be recognized and thanked in

Belinda Squance, 2013 Winnipeg Volunteer Coordina-tor still needs help. She reflects on the satisfaction that comes from sharing everyone’s Relay experience.

I still remember my first time volunteering with Relay For Life. It was a cold, windy, rainy day at Maple Grove Park. After helping people find their camp sites, I went to help set up luminaries around the track. For an hour I was crouched down in the wind and rain as I stapled messages onto paper bags.

With each message brought hope, joy, sadness and tears. I am sure everyone has been touched by can-cer. I have had many surgeries to prevent cancer, my mum had breast cancer and survived, my dad had leu-kemia and did not.

So my heart breaks, aches and celebrates with every-one who has a cancer story to tell.

My whole body ached but my first thought was "I can't

Volunteers Wanted: Have fun, make a difference at Relay wait to do this again!" I guarantee that is what you will find too if you join us this year.

Relay For Life is a way for us to come together and not only celebrate our victories over this horrid disease but to also remember to keep fighting against it, even in the midst of great loss.

If you have considered volunteering but hesitated be-cause of time, ability or not knowing other volunteers, I encourage you to join us this year.

You can volunteer for as little as a few hours, and there are numerous opportunities for all skill sets and I al-ways volunteered on my own. I made some dear friends through the experience and am now proud to serve as Volunteer Chair.

If you are interested in helping us fight back against cancer, sign up online and join us! We cannot do this without you.

Volunteers Wanted

There are dozens of ways that you can help — even if you have just a few hours. If you would like to learn more about volunteer op-portunities for the 2013 Winnipeg Relay For Life please click here.

Look! We’re on Facebook & Twitter! Find us on Facebook by searching for Winnipeg Re-lay For Life and follow us on Twitter at WPGRelayForLife to stay up-to-date on the event and our fundraising efforts.

Use the #WPGrelay hash tag for any of your Relay-related tweets so others can easily find them!

By liking us at Winnipeg Re-lay For Life you will receive regular team and captain updates as well as the latest ways teams are fundraising.

Relay market back this year!

Back by popular demand, the Winnipeg Relay Mar-ket promises to offer something for all Relayers as teams extend their fundraising into the event itself.

Your team should aim to raise most of its goal be-fore the event so on-site fundraising at the Relay is about having fun. It shouldn’t take the place of your normal fundraising activities.

We will be setting up a “Relay Marché,” very much in the style of a farmers market bringing our Relay and fundraising community together. So, if your team is selling crafts, baked goods, fruit, or something else, we would be happy to help

you out by providing some table space at our Relay Marché.

Apace is limited but we will do our best to ensure every team that has a fundraising initiative, is provided a scheduled selling time at the market. Spaces are filled on a first come, first serve basis. Each team will be responsible for providing team members for your table and signs to help promote your fundraiser and a float for making change.

For more information please contact Barb Dolski, at winnipegre-layforlife@mb.cancer.ca by Friday, May 3, 2013.

Did you know there’s a Relay For Life App? You can now update your profile, upload a profile picture and even send emails to friends and family asking for pledges and then post your fundraising on Facebook!

It’s as easy as searching “Relay For Life Canada” in your App Store.

To use this app, your profile must be set to public and you must already be registered for the 2013 Relay.

Why We Relay: Team NGU Fight Club! When most people see our team name “NGU Fight Club” they often ask “What does the “NGU” stand for”? It stands for “Never Give Up.” These three letters represent the strength, courage and fight that special people I hold close to my heart showed when forced to fight cancer. My family has been participating in the Thunder Bay Relay For Life for many years, and it was last year that I decided to form a team in honor of my mother, a colorectal cancer survivor, and my best friend, who just recently achieved her first year of remission from Stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Follicular lymphoma. My mother was the first person I knew to be diagnosed with cancer. I was shocked. How could a young, healthy woman have colon can-cer? What she thought was a bad spell of food poisoning turned out to be the worst shock of her life. From the moment she was diagnosed she said she would be a fighter and survive this, and she did. I am proud to say that this year she is celebrat-ing her 10 year anniversary of being cancer free! She has also become an amazing spokesperson and advocate for colon cancer awareness. This year was the 2nd year for the “Shake your booty for colon cancer” zumbathon held in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which she founded and organized with the help of the Canadian Cancer Society in Thunder Bay. Kelly and I first met on the soccer field at the University of Manitoba in 2000-2001. From that moment we quickly became inseparable, and the greatest of friends. It was in the summer of 2011 while I was at a doctor’s appointment with Kelly that she found out she had Stage 4 “A” Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma. I was in shock. Kelly is athletic, healthy and only 29 years old. How could she possibly have cancer? The next year became the toughest year of Kelly’s life. From undergoing numerous scans, blood work, and a bone marrow biopsy she discovered that the Lymphoma was wide-spread, in the neck, armpits, back of belly, bone in left leg, chest and in the marrow. It seemed like every bit of news was not great. Every day Kelly learned a bit more about

Lymphoma, and with all of this happening, life kicked into high gear. Kelly started chemotherapy right away - eight rounds, every three weeks, for approximately six months. During this time I saw a different side of Kelly. She has always been strong, positive and a great leader in all she does, but the strength and courage she displayed was truly inspiring. Kelly has always been a competitive person and I knew this was going to be her biggest challenge, competing for her life. I also knew cancer had nothing on her! Her strength and determi-nation would pull her through with the biggest win of all time! Every day was tough, but you would never have know it. She had a smile

on her face and her laugh could be heard from miles away. Her positive attitude is what I truly believe helped her fight this battle and WIN! I am honored and de-lighted to celebrate Kelly’s first year

of remission and I look forward to many more years of celebrations to come! Needless to say, it didn’t take much for me to round up a group of friends who can all relate to my stories, and form an amazing team of people who are as passionate as I am in doing our part to fight Cancer! Team NGU Fight Club is excited to honor my mother, my best friend and all of our close friends, and family members who have battled, and who are currently battling this disease on May 24th at the Winni-peg Relay For Life! Just remember..... “Never Give Up” (NGU) because everyone has a fighting chance!

Bridget Lento ~ NGU Fight Club

“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

Quote that Kelly holds true to her heart.

How to raise $600 in 7 days With just weeks before we Relay, it’s time to help your team raise $3,000. Here are some steps that will help you raise $600 in seven days.

Day 1 – Log in to your Relay centre and pledge yourself $40 donation to show your commitment.

Day 2 – Log in to your Relay centre and send five emails to family members and ask them to match you. Remind them of the tax benefit.

Day 3 – Log in to your Relay centre and send 10 emails to friends asking them for a $20 pledge.

Day 4 - Ask your supervisor, doctor, den-tist, optometrist or veterinarian for a $20 pledge.

Day 5 - Put up a fundraising thermometer at your desk. Ask five co-workers for $10. (Remind them that you’ve bought all their kids silly chocolate bars.)

Day 6 – Log on to your Relay centre and send 10 follow-up emails to people who have not yet responded

Day 7 - Ask two neighbours for $20. If they can’t donate, ask them to join your team.

Double your efforts by checking if your com-pany matches gifts you raise in support of Re-lay For Life?

Remember: The number one rule of fundrais-ing is that if you don’t ask for it you don’t get it!

Bank Nights It’s time to turn in offline dona-tions and select your team’s

campsite!

While the Finance Team will be available at the Relay (5:00-6:30 p.m.) for safety and logistical reasons, we greatly prefer Team Captains utilize one of our Bank Nights prior to the event because:

• Limited cash onsite at the event means increased secu-rity for all of us

• Submitting your donations early means you can just fo-cus on having fun at Relay

Bank Nights are scheduled for Team Captains to bring in all off line donations. Our upcoming Bank Nights:

Thursday, May 16th

Tuesday, May 21st

15 minute appointments are available between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm

Canadian Cancer Society, 193 Sherbrook Street

Book your appointment at winnipegrelayforlife@mb.cancer.ca.

The purpose of the bank night is to:

• Drop off and reconcile your fundraising dollars

• Drop off your luminary sales money and your personal-ized luminary tags

• Book your camping tent spot. First come, first serve!

• Pick up your team bags, team t-shirts and parking passes

If you are interested in volunteering to help with bank nights the contact information is noted above.

Luminary sales light up the night

Luminaries are candles that are placed in special bags that bear the names of cancer survivors and loved ones who have lost their battle with cancer. At each Relay For Life event, the luminaries are lit during a moving ceremony at dusk. Your luminary and its message provide light and inspiration for the participants all night long as they

walk around the track. Even if you are unable to attend the event, you can still purchase lumi-naries to honour and remember your family members and friends who have experienced cancer. Please consider purchasing a lumi-nary for $5 by clicking here.

75 ways to make a difference during the Cancer Society’s Anniversary Celebrate our 75th Anniversary by completing the “75 Ask Challenge” and build awareness in your community and engage more people in the cancer fight. As you complete the challenge share your success on the Relay For Life Facebook page or on Twitter using #WhyIRelay.

• As a team, sell 75 luminaries

• Between now and Relay, tweet 75 messages among your team members about your fundraising progress, your personal stories and your Relay plans #WhyIRelay

• Have each team member ask 1 new person to register a team at Relay (10)

• Send 75 emails each to potential donors

• Encourage each team member to make a self pledge of $75 (10)

• Attend at least 2 team captain meetings (2)

• Challenge each team member to talk to 75 new people at Relay (10)

• Challenge yourself to walk 75 laps throughout the night

• Walk for 75 consecutive minutes at Relay

• Among your team members, commit to saying thank you in 75 different ways to your supporters - post on Facebook, tweet to your followers (#WhyIRelay), send thank you notes and emails

• Encourage each team member to ask at least one donor to donate $75 (10)

• Arrange for 3 team members to hold a bake sale at work and sell 75 items for $1 each

• Challenge 2 team members to hold a loonie drive at work and collect 75 (or 750!) loonies

• Encourage each team member to ask 75 friends on Facebook to pledge you (10)

• Challenge your team to complete 75 days of healthy eating (10)

•Among your team members, invite 2 survivors who are new to the event to walk the Survivors’ Victory Lap (2)

If you’re a returning team, ask us and we’ll let you know how much you raised last year so you can aim higher in this the 75th Anniversary of the Canadian Cancer Society. If you’re new, aim for a Silver designation and get everyone on the team involved.

We also want to recognize individuals. Each registered Relay For Life participant who raises a minimum of $100 is awarded a commemorative event T-shirt.

The program also recognizes participant averages on teams. For example, if a team of 10 raises $1,600, the participant average is $160 so all team members will be provided a T-shirt even if

Last year, the average Relay participant raised over $300 and many, many teams raised far more. The secret to their success:

•They started early

•They set individual and team goals

•They used online tools to extend their reach

We want all Relay participants to feel appreciated and recog-nized for their fundraising efforts and we want to encourage teams to achieve their fundraising goal and strive for the next level.

Team fundraising - You only hit a target that you aim for

Make sure your team is in the club this year! The Team Fundraising Club is one of our ways of recognizing your team’s fundraising accomplishments! Fundraising Club Levels Bronze Level: $2,500 - $3,499 Silver Level: $3,500 - $4,999 Gold Level: $5,000 - $7,499 Platinum Level: $7,500 - $9,999 Ruby Level: $10,000 - $14,999 Sapphire Level: $15,000 - $24,999 Diamond Level: $25,000+

2013

Attention Team Captains

Don’t miss the last team Cap-tain meeting on Wednesday May 8th at the Canadian Can-cer Society Office (193 Sher-brook Street) at 6:30.

Any questions you have about the event, fundraising, bank nights, using online tools, will be answered!

Teamwork helps … Team fundraising is easy and can be a lot of fun

Teamwork is wonderful. By work-ing together your Relay team can meet its fundraising goal and you can have some fun in the process. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Host a spring garage sale - You’ve got to do it anyway so why not fight cancer as you get rid of that stuff that has sat in your basement or garage. Gather old and unneeded items and get your neighbours together and do a com-munity garage sale with the pro-ceeds going to your team.

Flamingo Alert – Place a pink fla-mingo (of any other fun lawn orna-ment) in someone’s yard with a note that the flamingo will fly away for a donation.

Spring Cleaning - Team members donate their time to spring clean a room in a neighbour’s home.

Rake, Sweep or Wash for a Cure - Your team can get together and rake neighbourhood lawns, sweep driveways of the winter gravel or even wash windows to take the winter grime off.

Game Night – Not interested in hockey? Why not invite couples over for a board game night or Rock Band, Guitar Hero or Wii tournament. When people ask what they can bring, tell them a donation for your Relay Team.

Book Sale – Collect your old books and ask coworkers to bring old books they don’t want anymore into work and sell them with the proceeds go to your Relay team. Make sure to adver-tise this to your whole office or build-ing.

Bottle Drive - Ask restaurants, pubs, family and friends if you can pick up their bottles after a busy weekend.

Car Wash - Host a community car wash for a donation or do a Topless Car Wash - where you charge people to wash their car, but only the bottom half. Charge them another dollar or two to wash the top half.

Bake Sale - Organize a bake sale at work. Everyone likes a treat - espe-cially when the month goes to a good cause.

Biggest Loser – With the summer approaching, we all want to lose a few pounds. Like the TV show, have co-workers pay to enter and try to lose weight. The winner is the person who loses the greatest percentage of their body weight and they get a prize – your team gets the entry fee.

Shave or Save – Find a few team-mates or friends to put their hair on the line, they take containers around collecting money in one of two cans SAVE or SHAVE. The can with the most money in it by Relay decides the future of their hair. If there’s more money in the SHAVE can, they have to shave their hair.

Barbecue - Have a in a parking lot of a busy shopping complex. Ask a local grocery store to donate the supplies. Or, host a BBQ in your backyard and invite the neighbours that you haven’t seen in a while. Charge them a small fee that goes to your team.

Hockey Night in Canada – With the NHL playoffs set to begin, host a playoff evening with friends making a donation to your Real Relay.

Tell everyone about your team’s fund-raising activities

Relay Rap goes to hundreds of Manitobans who participate in Re-lay For Life. If your team is plan-ning a team fundraising event, let everyone know.

Relay Rap is distributed once a month and it’s a great vehicle to help you achieve your fundraising goal.

Just send along your event infor-mation (feel free to include photos too) by email to relayfor-life_2013@yahoo.ca and they’ll make sure it makes it in the next issue of the Relay Rap.

Yard Sale - 443 Lipton Street

Faces We Fight For” will be holding a multi-family yard sale on Saturday, May 11th from 8am to 2pm at 443 Lip-ton Street Hot Yoga - Moksha Yoga

It is still cold outside but you can get warmed up and support a great cause!

Hot yoga class fundraiser. Saturday April 27, 6:30pm at Moksha Yoga on Waverly. Minimum $10 donation, Please RSVP to reserve a spot: jennlamoureux@hotmail.com

Laugh Against Cancer

Rumors Fundraiser in Support of Relay For Life Thursday May 9 at 8:00 Comedian Ian Bagg from Los Angeles

Tickets are $12 and need to be pur-chased by May 1 in order for monies to be credited towards Relay for Life "We'd love to see all the Relay teams out for a fun night with some great laughs for a great cause." For tickets call Alana at 837-9986 or e-mail alanajo@shaw.ca

Please support those who support us!

REACT Mobile Sign Rentals Inc

Bel-Ayre Rentals Hooters Family Restaurant Olive Garden

The Keg Olymel Perkins