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SALISBURY, MD---For the past five years, ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥’s Relay For Life has been one of the top collegiate Relays in the nation, and organizers are gearing up for another highly successful event in May.

Opening ceremonies for the American Cancer Society’s signature fund-raiser begin 6 p.m. Friday, May 1, at SU’s Intramural Fields, immediately followed by a survivors’ lap. Closing ceremonies are 6 a.m. Saturday, May 2. This year’s theme is “Cure” toons.

Nearly 100 teams of SU students, faculty, staff, families and community groups are already signed up to participate.  Some $23,000 has been pledged, so far. All proceeds benefit cancer research, education, patient services and advocacy programs.

With more than $95,000 in donations last year, SU’s Relay for Life was named No. 3 in the nation among institutions its size for per capita fundraising.  Since 2002, SU has raised more than $550,000 for the society.

SU has twice been named one of only 20 “Leaders of Hope” by Colleges Against Cancer, an American Cancer Society program that unites college students, faculty and staff from more than 300 campuses in the fight against cancer. SU also was named CAC’s “Rookie of the Year” Relay chapter, and SU’s CAC chapter won a 2008 Outstanding Advocacy Award, one of only six honors given nationwide.

The ACS is a community-based organization dedicated to eliminating cancer through efforts such as Relay For Life, which in the past 20 years has spread to more than 4,500 U.S. communities and 12 foreign countries.

For more information on this year’s Relay, contact chair Lauren Friedman at Relay4Life@salisbury.edu or visit the SU Relay Web site at .