From tabling events to walking door to door to pass out advertisements, Larissa Smith and Haylee Morgan played integral roles in helping garner donations for the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Starting in October 2024, Morgan and Smith, both graduating seniors, began brainstorming ideas to build on their successes from the year prior.
“Our goal this year was to raise $7,000 because last year we raised about $5,000,” said Morgan. “We wanted to push ourselves, and we reached our goal, raising $8,047.”
Their goal was not only to increase donations, but also to increase participation from university students and community members in Relay for Life.
Relay for Life is ACS’s culminating event. Relay for Life is a cancer charity walk/movement that brings together survivors, supporters and others whose lives have been impacted by cancer to take action for a cancer-free future.
Smith said, “We had more teams sign up this year. Not as many showed up, but at least we had more thinking about it.”
Prior to Relay for Life, Morgan and Smith partnered with local restaurants who hosted fundraisers for cancer awareness. Morgan said their most popular event was at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers in Whitehall, Ohio.
Morgan’s favorite fundraising event took place in September 2024. For Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Morgan hosted a week of educational pop-up events.
“The rubber ducks get people to the table and then they learn more, and the importance of childhood cancer makes this type of engagement so cool,” said Morgan.
Smith, a middle hitter for the university’s volleyball team, said her favorite events were all the activities during Breast Cancer Awareness Week.
Being the vice president and secretary of ACS and playing volleyball, Smith got to see the aspects of both organizations’ involvement.
Morgan and Smith believe consistent advertising played a crucial role in their successes this school year.
“Current students had no idea what it [Relay] was until our event last year,” said Smith. “So that, plus the combination of getting more flyers out this year, really helped.”
Morgan said, “We kind of divided and conquered to get the word out more.”
Morgan and Smith said their organization is small but still capable of doing meaningful work. They agreed more members would be helpful, especially when planning large-scale events, however, the workload is manageable.
“I always say, you get out what you put into it. If you want to take a big step and reach out to sponsors or reach out to [sports] teams, you’ll do that and you’ll find it rewarding,” said Morgan. “But also, if you don’t have that much time, there’s still a part for everybody to play.”
In addition to the team-centered environment and communication skills they learned from being members of ACS, Morgan and Smith said engagement in general has been important to their post-graduation endeavors.
Morgan and Smith were both accepted to graduate school. Morgan was accepted to The Ohio State College of Optometry, and Smith was accepted to Mount St. Joseph University’s Physical Therapy program.
They both said being involved added value to the collegiate experiences outside of the classroom.
“Planning events, being a leader, being involved and giving back to the community” made a difference for Morgan during her graduate school interviews.
Smith encourages students to stay active whether through sports or organizations. She said it will help relieve stress from school and build skills relevant to future careers.
Though there will be no more late-night trips to Walmart to find the best apparatus to tie legs together for a three-legged race or walking to every bank in Bexley to find donors, Morgan and Smith are grateful for the memories and connections they have made through ACS.
The university’s chapter of ACS is accepting new members. Students can follow ACS’s Instagram page for updated information about the next general body meeting and information sessions. ACS accepts donations year-round.
