An official kick off celebration will be held will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 9 at the Newington Senior Center.
The evening will include festivities and appearances by local officials but the biggest goal is to find people who are willing to take the helm and start a team.
"Part of the kick off is to recruit for team captains," said Rose Vigdal, who is co-chairwoman of the relay along with Dorothy Fandacone.
Teams are the groups that take turns circling a track throughout the event. Members often camp out overnight and participate in the various activities such as the luminaria or survivors lap to celebrate a fight against cancer or remember someone lost to the disease. The event, which this year carries the theme "When You Believe," includes other festivities such as live music.
Team members sign up for the event, pay the $10 registration fee and work on getting donations from friends, family or co-workers. Like most efforts these days, much of the donations and registration is done online and members can even set up their own Web page. Of course, members can accept cash and checks as well. Last year 24 teams, making up a total of 248 participants, took part in the event.
Teams can come from a variety of sources, whether it be a group of co-workers, neighborhood friends, survivors or family members.
Team leaders schedule meetings, motivate members and often schedule fund-raising events to help raise money for the event on top of what each member gets in donations.
Vigdal said a motivated person can certainly handle the responsibility but added that it does take commitment.
This year some 300 invitations have been sent for the kick off but organizers hope to see some new faces.
"We're hoping to even have some newcomers," said Teresa Conceicao.
In addition to the kick off meeting, relay committee members have been busy planning another event planned for next month.
A Valentine's Dance is set to take place on the date of that holiday - Feb. 14. It will be held at the Polish American Club, 140 Wilson Ave., Newington from 7- 11 p.m. Cost is $25 per person. It will include a buffet dinner, entertainment by Josh's DJ company and raffle prizes.
Those interested in tickets to the dance can call Morgan Greenleaf, Community Executive of Development for the American Cancer Society at (203) 379-4782 or e-mail Vigdal at relayrose@aol.com or Conceicao at conceica@harthosp.org.
Earlier this week, the Valentine's Dance Committee recently met at California Pizza Kitchen in Westfarms to talk about the event and get a taste of the restaurant's offerings, since it will be donating food for the event.
Vigdal, Conceicao and Fran Haley - three friends who grew up together in the south end of Hartford - met talk about aspects such as ticket sales, decorations and raffle prizes, which by then had already included such items as a gift basket and gift certificate to a hair salon and a family fun pack for the Rock Cats. Any money raised goes toward the relay total.
"All the proceeds will go back to the Relay," Vigdal said. "It's being run as a committee fund-raiser."
The committee plans to hold other fund-raisers prior to the main event, which will be held at Mill Pond Park in Newington on May 29 and 30.
Organizers hope to raise $50,000 this year. Last year the event came close to that goal with a gross profit of $48, 830. After expenses $43,763 was donated to the American Cancer Society to benefit cancer programs, outreach and research in the state.
And although that may be a few months away, organizers hope area residents are ready to support them next month by attending the kick off and the dance.
Anyone who can't get to the kick off but is still interested in helping or being a team captain can contact Greenleaf, at (203) 379-4782 or Morgan.Rae.Greenleaf@cancer.org or Vigdal at (860) 218-4697 or relayrose@aol.com or Fandacone at relaydorothy@comcast.net. Anyone currently battling cancer or who is in remission and is interested in taking part in the survivor dinner and/or lap can contact Jan Vumback at jvumback@yahoo.com.
More information about the event can be found by logging on to http://relayforlife.org/newingtonct.