Relay for Life Of Second Life Goes to National Summit

Leaders of the Relay For Life of Second Life travelled to Dallas,Texas
this past weekend to participate in the 2009 Relay For Life Nationwide Leadership Summit.
The Summit is an annual activity bringing together Relay staff and
volunteer leadership for 2 days of training to help each Relay
improve and grow. Attendees from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom
and South Africa were joined by Second Life as honored guests. The
summit goers attended various workshops designed to arm them with the
newest innovations and ideas, reinforce basic Relay activities and
share individual ideas and successes.

Relay For Life of Second Life was represented by incoming Event Chair
Tayzia Abattoir, co-chair Nuala Maracas and Trader Whiplash. They
were joined there by Staff Partner Stingray9798 Raymaker.

Reuel Johnson, the American Cancer Society's Vice President for Relay
For Life specifically cited Relay For Life of Second Life during his
opening remarks, noting that the virtual Relay had exceeded its
target, raising more than $274,000, had attracted more than 120 teams,
and had over 750 years of survivorship represented on the track during
its opening lap on July 18th.

The avatar of Trader Whiplash, co-winner of the 2009 Spirit of Relay award in Second Life, presented a 3

minute video to the nearly 500 attendees, as part of the Quality portion of the summit.

A highlight of this year’s conference was the induction of longtime
Society volunteer Jeff Ross of North Carolina into the Relay For Life
Hall of Fame. Jeff is an 8 year Relayer who's passion and dedication
to Relay is overshadowed only by his unending passion for people and
life. He has been called upon to speak at Relays all around the globe
and is affectionately known as the Relay Preacher. He joins Dr. Gordy
Klatt, who in 1985 founded Relay For Life by running around a track in
Tacoma Washington for 24 hours raising $24,000 for the Society. Pat
Flynn known as the Mother of Relay, a friend and patient of Dr Klatt
who helped establish Relay as the Society's signature fundraising
event, the late Terry Zahn, a reporter and anchorman from Hampton
Roads, VA who produced a television series called “My Life With Cancer”
as well as 2 nationally-distributed videos encouraging communities to
hold Relay For Life events, and Dr. Bob Brodell who founded the first
Celebration on the Hill to bring Relay For Life to the Capitol, and
helped integrate the Advocacy role into Relay For Life.

For more information about the National Summit please contact Trader1 Whiplash or Stingray9798 Raymaker in world. To take part in the 2010 Relay for Life of Second Life or to stay informed please join SL's RFL Volunteer group.