PENINSULA – The 2007 Relay for Life season officially ended Aug. 31 and it’s the beginning of a new year for the 2008 Relay For Life of the Long Beach Peninsula. Sept. 1 begins the fifth year of the relay event in our local community.

Final accounting shows that the 2007 Relay event brought in $57,853 in funds raised through business sponsorships, luminaria, personal donations and team fundraising efforts. Money raised by the event will help the American Cancer Society to research, treat and possibly find a cure for a disease that is overwhelmingly affecting over one million new people each year in our country alone.

“The Relay For Life is as much an awareness-raiser about the American Cancer Society’s fight against cancer as it is a fundraiser,” said local event chair Mavis Shucka. “Now as we start the 2008 Relay season, volunteers are needed for the event committee as well as team captains, team members and business sponsors.”

The American Cancer Society is a nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education, advocacy and service.

If you or someone you know has been touched by cancer and would like to help in the fight to eliminate cancer, call Mavis Shucka at 642-3054. For more information on cancer, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or visit (www.cancer.org).