File Photo: The Valdosta Daily TimesRelay For Life team participant Paul Glynn waves during the May 2017 event held at Lowndes High School. The 2018 Relay For Life is scheduled for 10 a.m., May 5, at LHS.

VALDOSTA — The Relay For Life fundraiser that was once a staple for the first Friday night in May will be held on a Saturday this year. 

The Lowndes County chapter of the American Cancer Society will bring the cancer awareness event to Lowndes County High School, 1606 Norman Drive, 10 a.m., May 5.

Team members are asked to alternate walking laps during the 12-hour relay in memory of people who have lost their fight with cancer and for those who have survived, according to national organizers.

Emily Lamontagne, community development manager for Lowndes, said participants and sponsors are still being accepted for the organization’s signature fundraiser.

The targeted goal for the local fundraiser is $250,000, according to organizers.

Registration is free and can be completed on relayforlife.org/lowndescountyga. People of all ages are welcome, and persons without cancer may participate.

All donations will go toward research for a cancer cure, Lamontagne said. The program will also use the funds to “improve the quality of care for patients,” she said.

“Our mission is to save lives, and that’s why this was started,” she said.

There will be a survivor/caregiver walk, a KidZone with games and activities for children, a DJ, food and a candlelit luminaria ceremony at 9 p.m for those who have died of cancer. Dance groups will also perform.

“It really is a great place to make relationships and have somebody walk by your side and they understand what you’re going through,” Jami West, event chair, said.

West said Relay For Life is an opportunity for the community to uplift survivors and caregivers.

“I have three daughters, and I would absolutely love them to live in a world that doesn’t have cancer,” she said. “We fight in Relay For Life as a family unit.”

Relay For Life was established nationally in 1985 and has existed locally for more than two decades, Lamontagne said. 

Amanda Usher is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1274.