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Cancer doesn't take a break, so for one night, more than 350 Ossining Relay For Life participants will go without sleep to support the effort to defeat the disease.
The village's fourth Relay For Life fundraiser will start at around 4 p.m. Saturday at the Anne M. Dorner Middle School and will end at 7 a.m. Sunday.
"The whole point of staying up all night is that cancer doesn't sleep," said Nicole Gauthier, special events manager for the American Cancer Society.
This year's Relay For Life has already raised about $67,000 in donations collected by participants, and more money is expected to be raised at the event through sales of food and activities such as face painting. All the money goes to the American Cancer Society.
"It's just a great, fun community event and it shows how much people come together to fight cancer," Gauthier said.
Fundraising participants are expected to begin setting up and decorating their tent sites around 4 p.m. About 38 teams, including families, friends and co-workers, are expected to participate.
At 6 p.m., a free dinner for cancer survivors and caregivers will be served courtesy of the Tuscan Grill in Briarcliff.
The opening ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will feature speeches from people including village Mayor William Hanauer, Town of Ossining Supervisor Catherine Borgia, Ossining Superintendent of Schools Phyllis Glassman and Ossining High School principal Josh Mandel.
Participants will begin running and walking around a track following the speeches. Each fundraising team must have one person on the track at all times, in relay style, from 7 p.m. Saturday through 7 a.m. Sunday.
White paper bags containing a battery-powered candle will be held up in memory of those who have lost their lives to cancer during a luminaire ceremony at 9 p.m. Saturday. The ceremony will be followed by a silent lap around the track.
A closing ceremony will be held at 7 a.m. Sunday. At that time event organizers will announce how much money was raised by the event.
"Ossining has grown each year in participants and dollars raised," Gauthier said. "It's really the work of volunteer committees who help build this event and communicate what this event is about."
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