Delicious food, up-beat music, entertaining games, and all of your friends. Relay for Life is basically a city-wide slumber party that happens to be for a good cause. And like any great party, there are party-crashers.

Relay for Life is an annual event held at the WS track to celebrate cancer survivors, remember those we have lost to the disease, and fight back by fundraising for a cure. To attend Relay for Life you must be part of a team, since the goal is to have at least one member of the team walking around the track at all times. If someone wants to join a team, they must make a donation, whether it be fifty, twenty, or even five dollars. This money goes toward cancer research to cure a terminal illness that takes countless lives every year.

Some people, however, choose to skip making a donation and joining a team and instead decide to spontaneously show up to the event for a night of some free fun. I understand that for people who either forgot to sign up or didn’t think they would be interested in attending, the lure of Relay for Life can be enticing when they are sitting at home on that Friday night.

No one can deny that Relay for Life is a blast.  Lanterns illuminate the field, making a bright oval of hope in the middle of a dark night. Tents, tarps, and blankets cover the field, the loudspeakers are blasting music, pizza can be smelled for miles around, and participants even have the option to roll around in a giant hamster ball. But these temptations are no excuse to free-load off of the generosity of others.

If someone decides at the last-minute that they do want to stay up all night on the WS track, I think they should be able to attend the event. The more the merrier! But before they dig into the free food and hang out with friends, they should contribute to the cause. While a big part of the relay is dedicated to having fun, the main reason everyone is there is in the name of cancer research. If people show up announced, the least they can do is make a small donation so that they are not depriving the event from much-needed fundraising.

Relay Life is undoubtedly one of the best nights of the year. And that’s because it combines the fun of a school-wide sleepover with the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you donate to a good cause. When we are having the time of our lives at Relay for Life, let’s not forget the real reason we are there.