Prince George, B.C. –  The plans are in place, now  all that’s needed is for participants to  do their thing.  This Saturday, the 23rd annual Relay For Life,  will start at Masich Place  Stadium.This annual   fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society  has set a lofty goal for donations this  year.   The target is $550 thousand dollars,  that’s $50 thousand less than the  $600 grand raised last year,  a total that  gave Prince George  honours  for having the most money raised in any Relay event in 2014.  It will be tough to  repeat that  performance, but  everyone is  trying says Helen Owen, Team Lead, Community Giving Canadian Cancer Society, BC and Yukon Division “Everybody is working so hard and fundraising has been going full bore, so I believe  everyone is doing the absolute best they can”.

Although the main objective for the  event is to  raise dollars for  research and the Canadian Cancer Society’s prevention and support programs,   the Relay  is also  about celebrating  victories  over  cancer and to  remember those who lost their battle with  the disease.

Owen says there have been some changes this year, both to the Relay program and to activities surrounding the event.  There will be a Kids Play Zone, complete with  face painting  and crafts,  live music,  a photo booth,  massages,  a barbeque and a helicopter fly over.

One of the major changes is the timing of the luminaries display.   In previous years, the  decorated white bags that carry a lit candle,  have been on display at midnight.  This year, that has been moved up to  10 pm. “We wanted  it to be more community inclusive” says Owen when asked  why the  luminary ceremony  time was changed. “Midnight is late for a lot of people,  for young families,  so we thought  if we move it to 10 o’clock, that’s the halfway point of our event,  it’s dark at that time, so we’re hoping to see more people out at the track to take part in that and then we can leave the luminaries lit around the track for two more hours.”

The event  starts at 10 a.m. Saturday with the Victory lap taken by those who have been on a  cancer journey.

There are  140 teams registered  to take part in the Relay.