EMERSON, N.J.—This year’s Relay For Life of the Pascack Valley marks Emerson Jr./Sr. High School’s second consecutive year hosting the event, and organizers say they’re excited for a huge turnout.
To help spread the word on the relay, which will bring fun and games and so much more to EHS on May 18 from noon to midnight, volunteers “painted” Emerson, Hillsdale, Park Ridge, River Vale, and Westwood in purple ribbons.
Residents from nine towns fuel the relay. Volunteers raise money year-round, then camp out and take turns walking or running the track. Relayers don’t have to walk all night; each team is asked to have a representative on the track throughout the event.
The American Cancer Society fundraiser sees more than 5,000 Relay For Life events take place across more than 20 countries. Relay says events are held in local communities, campus universities, “and in virtual worlds.”
It all culminates in a glorious overnight celebration.
All summer in a day
This year’s Pascack Valley Relay For Life theme is “Summer Vacation Destination: Cure.” The host team, the Cavo Cancer Crushers, says it looks forward to honoring the lives lost to cancer, celebrating survivors, and supporting the caregivers who so selflessly help others.
“Cancer has touched all of us in some way. And we want to stop this disease in its tracks,” the team says on its webpage.
This year’s Emerson event, delivering a day and night of early summertime family fun, promises a “boardwalk” for food and refreshments, a 45-foot inflatable obstacle course, a 30-foot slide, and contests. A DJ will pump the jams all day and into the night.
A $10 donation gets you full access.
Eight days out, at press time, Relay For Life of the Pascack Valley says it has collected $58,507 toward a goal of $125,000 and is going strong.
Top teams listed are Pascack Hills Teens Against Cancer, which has raised $16,674; Cavo Cancer Crushers, $7,438; and KPMG Hope Blooms, $5,961.
Also weighing in at thousands of dollars in donations are PV Class of 2023, Holy Angels, Big Z Lives On, Al Rocks On, Hawks That Walk: Holdrum Class of 2020, Pascack Valley Class of 2022, and PV Class of 2020.
The top company fundraiser listed is KPMG, whose members have kicked in $5,648.
Think you can do better? There’s time to form or join a team, volunteer, donate, or sponsor. You don’t need to be a track star, and every dollar counts.
Students make the difference
According to Sue Vaccaro, co-chair of Relay for Life of the Pascack Valley, credit is due two teachers at EHS—Annette LoBlanco and Natalie Rehak—who have been working with their students on this year’s relay to make it a success.
“We have always strived to have the relay be a true community event, and the Emerson Jr./Sr. High School teachers, and students, and the Borough of Emerson, are making it happen,” Vaccaro told Pascack Press last week.
In turn, LoBlanco and Rehak gave a shout-out to student co-presidents Jaiden Mason and Josh Salles, who’ve been coordinating the efforts of an estimated 200 Relay For Life Club members at the school.
LoBlanco told Pascack Press that she and Rehak had lost family and friends to cancer, and this is the best way they can remember them.
Mason agreed: “Relay for me is a way to get involved and help fight cancer. My best friend [Natalie Lopac] passed away from cancer in 2017 and before then it was a way for me to feel like I was fighting the disease with her, even though she was the only one fighting.”
She added, “It gives me an outlet to help patients the only way I can at the moment. I love coming together with the Pascack Valley community and raising awareness and fighting cancer.”
This is EHS’s second and final time as host for relay, at least for the near future. Next year, the event moves on to a different school in the Pascack Valley, and students there will have two years to perfect their vision before themselves paying it forward
EHS is at 131 Main St., Emerson. For more information, including events and donations, visit relayforlife.org/pascackvalleyNJ. You also can write Cori Mastropolo at the American Cancer Society at cori.mastropolo@cancer.org or Susan Vaccaro at scvaccaro@verizon.net.
—Nina O’Connell contributed additional reporting to this article.
