The luminaria ceremony is viewed by many as the most beautiful part of the relay weekend. This year the ceremony will be dedicated to Honoree Loren Licausi. Photo Courtesy of Phyllis Inserillo.
The most successful relay community in Queens will celebrate its 5 year anniversary when the Howard Beach community hosts Relay for Life on June 8-9 at Frank Charles Memorial Park.
Organizers remain amazed at the early success they are seeing despite the ill effects of the storm on the entire neighborhood.
“We were definitely not focusing on donations this year,” said Phyllis Inserillo who has chaired the event for the last 5 years. “Our objective was to make sure the community knew that the American Cancer Society was behind them all the way.” It was central, Inserillo said, that cancer survivors not take a backseat to the storm.
And it seems that the Relay community was in the same frame of mind because as of this reporting, they have received over $50,000 with more donations arriving every day. Organizers are confident they will once again go over the six figure mark, making their total raised nearly ¾ of a million dollars since 2009.
In meeting with the tradition of the event, Howard Beach Relay always names an honoree and this year, beloved teen, Loren Licausi, will be remembered. A special tribute will be offered during the Luminaria ceremony in her memory.
Two popular events will be held at the actual Relay this year, the first of which is known as Dancing Towards a Cure, where dance students raise funds to earn the opportunity to take master dance classes from some of NYC’s most talented professional dance instructors.
Howard Beach resident Erica Furman started the idea and in the first year raised over $11K for the American Cancer Society. Furman, whose mom is a survivor, had to develop a plan to do the event in the outdoor space because the storm cut out many of last year’s options.
Following the dance event will be the ever popular annual Kids Kare 2 event. A special performance by Lucki Gurlz, the up-and-coming girl group who have recently performed with Beyonce and Snoop Dogg.
The Howard Beach Relay is getting some “celebrity push” in its fund raising corner with former American Idol contestant Pia Toscano. She has tweet a link to her “Sweet P’s” team page to get the word out about the event. Toscano says she will call every person who donates to her personal fund raising goal. ” I have been involved with this event since it started, and even though I live in LA, my heart will always be with my community and I will always help in any way I can. I want to personally thank everyone that is willing to give to this important cause.”
Remember that the Dancing Toward A Cure starts at 11 a.m. and that the opening ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Sign up for your teams now!
To get more involved visit
www.relayforlife.org/howardbeachNY or e-mail HowardBeachRelay@aol.com
