By Victoria Stone-Meadows
TRADERS at the Cranbourne Homemaker Centre will be ‘painting the town purple’ to encourage people to register for a cancer fund-raiser event — the Relay for Life.
Starting 9 October, businesses at the Homemaker Centre will decorate their windows with everything purple to promote the Cranbourne-Narre Relay for Life.
The promotion also encourages people to take advantage of the last week of early bird registrations for the relay.
The Cranbourne-Narre Relay for Life team will also be running a community barbecue at the Homemaker Centre for the drive-in showing of Zootopia on 8 October.
The Relay for Life for the Cranbourne and surrounding region is open to all residents in the area, and will take place at the Casey Fields athletics track from 4pm, Saturday 5 November to noon, Sunday 6 November.
Last year’s Cranbourne-Narre Relay for Life event raised $67,122 which helped fund Cancer Council Victoria’s research in the fight against cancer and prevention and support programs.
Kirrily Guinan, cancer survivor and committee member for the Cranbourne-Narre Relay for Life, said the ‘painting the town purple’ initiative was a great help to the organisation.
“It’s a call to action,” she said.
“We are trying to get as many people as possible registered in Cranbourne before Sunday 9 October when the registration fee is still $20 because after that it is $25.”
Ms Guinan said the money raised through relay for life not only helped the cancer council fund valuable research but helped those that are suffering and their families and friends.
“I became involved to make a difference in people’s lives so no one has to hear the words you have cancer,” she said.
“There are prevention messages, and the whole relay is a safe place for people who have been through the journey or supporting others,” she said.
While the relay is a big fund-raising drive, Ms Guinan said there was so much more to it.
“There is a real community feel to the event, and it’s a chance for us to get the message out.”
“We get together and celebrate survivors and fighters and remember those we have loved and lost, and fight back against the disease.”
For their fifth year, The Cranbourne-Narre Relay for Life has a fund-raising goal of $100,000 and in four years previous have raised a total of $302,376.62 for the Cancer Council of Victoria.
