Katrina Burns, left, 14, holds a completed quilt for McKenzi Seggerman, 13, Brittney Balko, 12, right, and volunteer Michelle Marroquin in the Teen Center at the Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Oregon on May 5. This quilt and others have been crafted by the club’s Torch Club, a community service group for teens, with memorial squares that display positive images or mottos. Seven Torch Club kids are involved in efforts to benefit this year’s Relay for Life North Bend/Coos Bay, and plan to auction the quilts as memorial pieces. 2008 marks the first year in which a strictly youth-only team has participated in the local relay. McKenzi, who serves as president for the Torch Club, crafted a memorial square for an acquaintance, who died of cancer in February.-World Photo by Alex Powers

Year after year, one of the biggest benefit events in Coos County goes down without a hitch. More than a thousand people turn out, walk and have a good time at the Relay for Life North Bend/Coos Bay. But in the months prior, organization and fundraising requires work.

A lot of work.

A lot of volunteers.

Committee meetings for this year’s relay actually started in December. Relay season kicked off Feb. 5, and team captains have been gathering with the North Bend/Coos Bay relay committee on the first Thursday of each month to check the status of teams, organize events and share fundraising ideas.

This year, Relay for Life North Bend/Coos Bay has set a goal of $94,000, which ranks the event in the American Cancer Society’s top tier for communities of this size. Organizers expect 40 teams to join the relay before it starts on June 21 at Sunset Middle School. Community relationship manager for the ACS, D’Ann Atkinson, said that the local relay is not far from either goal.

“All indications say that we will meet or exceed those expectations. I’m really excited,” she said.

Atkinson attributed two factors to helping bolster the relay locally.

There is a new Web site, http://events.cancer.org/rflnorthbendor, which is streamlining the team organization and fundraising processes. It’s also helped eliminate paperwork.

“This is a huge, huge deal,” said Atkinson. “It’s going to send our event to the next level. We’ll be able to reach more and more people with the Relay for Life message.”

She hopes that increased youth involvement will grow online fundraising locally.

“There are teams that only fundraise online in some communities. It’s bringing in the younger generation that wants to use the Internet.”

Teenagers at the Boys and Girls Club of Southwestern Oregon are helping to usher in a new generation of Relay for Life volunteers with fundraising efforts previously unseen in their age group.

Seven teens from the Boys and Girls Club’s Torch Club, a community service group for children ages 12-14 under the direction of Teen Director Javon Johnson, have hosted a garage sale. They also are crafting raffle quilts and plan a car wash this month.

The quilts feature positive inspirational messages and are being raffled once a week at the Boys and Girls Club.

“(The quilts) are a dedication or memorial to people who have survived, or haven’t survived, cancer,” said Johnson.

“Kids love to be asked to do stuff,” said relay committee co-chair Kim Davidson. “We’re asking them to participate the same way we would ask an adult, because they’re our tomorrow.”

Other fundraising events commonly include bake sales, garage sales and car washes, of which there are dozens in the months before the relay, as well as sponsorship of paper Relay for Life stars and moons and coin cans.

The relay committee must also attain proper permits with the city, have safety plans in order, camp sites arranged and entertainment hired before deadline in June.

“There’s definitely a to-do list,” said Davidson.