This year’s Relay For Life Kick-Off will be Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 at 6 p.m. at the A.W. Todd Centre in Russellville.

It may seem like May 2015 is a long ways away, but plans for the 2015 Franklin County Relay For Life are already underway.

With a smaller-than-normal turnout for the 2014 Relay For Life, the Franklin County Relay For Life Committee met for the first time last month to discuss different ways to get the community back out and supporting this cause that raises money to support the American Cancer Society’s life-giving research and hope-giving programs.

Anna Duncan, a Franklin County resident who is also the new ACS specialist for Franklin County, said different ideas were discussed to try and make Relay more exciting and interactive for all those who attend.

“Relay For Life is a phenomenal event in itself because you have an entire community of people coming together to support the fight against cancer,” Duncan said.

“Cancer has undoubtedly touched the lives of almost every person in this county, especially now when there are two young girls in the county who are fighting their battles and many others who are fighting or who have been recently diagnosed.

“Just coming out and supporting that fight is enough reason to come out and support Relay, but we want our event to also be fun and interactive. There are young families with children who want this to be exciting for their kids, so we tried to focus on ways we could incorporate different groups of people and make it fun for a wide-range of people.”

Duncan said a big aspect of Relay For Life that is always important is the theme for the event.

“This year we decided on a carnival theme because we knew it would be versatile enough for the teams to all get involved and make it fun, but it will also be something that we can use to have games, rides, and food that will make it an entertaining and family-friendly event.”

Tonya James, who co-chairs the Relay team “Gettin’ it 2Gether for Gladys” in memory of her mother, Gladys Yocom, said as a mother, she thought the carnival idea would be great for those with children.

“I have two little girls and it will be great for us to have activities and games and things for them to do,” she said.

“We are going to be at Relay regardless because of what the event is and what it stands for, but it does make it easier when there’s something there to keep the kids entertained.”

Duncan said the committee also decided to have the annual Franklin County Relay For Life Kick-Off earlier this year to give teams more time to fundraise and give new teams more time to get organized.

“Instead of waiting until January to have our kick-off, we thought it would be good to go ahead and kick things off and get everyone in the Relay spirit now,” she said.

The Franklin County Relay For Life Kick-Off will be Tuesday, Oct. 28, at the A.W. Todd Centre in downtown Russellville starting with dinner at 6 p.m. and a short program to follow. This event is for all team leaders or captains and for any new potential teams who want to get involved with this year’s Relay For Life.

“Anyone can have a team,” Duncan said.

“If you’ve ever thought about having a team, now is the time to make it happen. Come on out to kick-off and we can get you all the information you need to know about making a difference in the lives of so many people though Relay, including the lives of so many people here locally.

“We would love to see a lot of new faces at this year’s Relay Kick-Off event.”