The Relay for Life in Prince George is entering its 28th year this summer as the biggest 24-hour event across Canada.
With the new decade comes a new approach in trying to get more young people to participate in hopes of increasing its popularity for generations to come.
Riley Newman classifies himself as part of the younger demographic and is now on the relay committee as the event chair to help make sure they can connect with kids and young adults ahead of the ‘mainstay event.’
He feels they can also help bring participation to a whole new level and surpass 2019’s count of 675 walkers and $325,000 raised.
“There’s some big teams that took last year off that are coming back this year, so 800 is definitely feasible,” he said in an interview with PrinceGeorgeMatters.
“But the nice thing too is us maybe moving towards maybe a bit of a younger demographic, we were able to reach different areas haven’t been able to before. That be universities, high schools, sports teams, that sort of thing, we’ve been able to get into that side of things too.”
Today (Feb. 11), to make things more enticing, Northland Dodge, one of the key sponsors for Prince George’s Relay for Life, is putting on a draw for $10,000 in hopes of getting more people to sign up.
For every $500 a relayer raises, a ballot will be placed into the draw barrel, with additional ballots each time they get over that plateau, with Northland Dodge Dealer Principal Kyle Bachman says keeps up with the ‘gameboard’ theme for 2020.
“We just wanted to something fun with the theme, change it up and keep the energy high with the community,” said Bachman.
“It’s been such a big event for so many years, so we thought a $10,000 prize would be kind of a fun offset and kind of matches the free parking on the Monopoly and Northland being able to sponsor it.”
Last year, it was a choice between 2 cars & this time, $10,000 is up grabs 💰 As an encouragement for residents to get involved with #RelayForLifePG, @NorthlandDodge is giving away money & for every $500 raised, 1 ballot will go into the draw | #CityOfPG @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/uIR5T8zzSR
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) February 11, 2020
Social media is also going to be vital in reaching the younger generation, Newman explained.
While you don’t have to walk the full 24 hours as most sign up with teams and switch shifts, he says there are some brave souls who choose to do so with purpose.
“There was about 20 of them last year that made it, so it’s pretty wild. By 3 a.m. in the morning, it gets pretty lonely out there. [...] They treacher through, but the nice thing about the 24 hours, the significance of that is people face cancer 24 hours a day. They don’t take time off, so our relayers who do that kind of take that into consideration as well.”
Both Newman and Bachman have personal reasons for getting involved in Prince George’s Relay for Life as they lost family members to cancer at a point in their lives.
Newman said he’s lost grandparents and friends to the disease, while Bachman lost his mother at 19 years old.
The 2020 Relay for Life is set for June 13 and 14 and you can go to the event’s website for registration and more information.
