To say the staff and students at Penticton Secondary School are excited about its Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life event would be a gross understatement.
More than 350 students – or one quarter of the student body at the downtown Penticton high school – have signed up to participate in the Relay for Life, and they’ve set a fundraising goal of $80,000 for today’s (Wednesday) event.
Aareeba Sadeque and Evan Franz, both 16 and in Grade 11, are team leaders in helping organize today’s major fundraising event, where all proceeds will be turned over to the local chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society to assist patients fighting against cancer.
“The entertainment committee helped plan all the fun stuff, all the activities that will be taking place,” said Sadeque, who’s the leader of the committee. “We’ll be having a volleyball tournament, bouncy castles, a slip and slide, concessions and a bunch of fun-themed events around the outdoor track at the school.”
Pen High held a fundraising event for the Canadian Cancer Society for many years, but there was a gap of almost 15 years before the event returned last year, said Franz.
“We took a major break for over 15 years, but thankfully we brought it back last year and it was a big success and we’re really looking forward to this year’s event,” she said.
A group of Grade 12 students approached Marnie Mennell, a longtime teacher at the school and founder of the Leadership Class, about bringing back the Relay for Life and things went off without a hitch last year, said Sadeque.
“For having the event back for the first time in a long time last year, things went really well,” she said. “We set a fundraising goal of $10,000, but we ended up raising just over $27,000. We made it a lot of fun and I think that’s the reason why we’re bringing it back and going to make it even more successful this year.”
Students set a goal to raise $30,000 during today’s event, however, there has been overwhelming response and that goal has been increased $70,000.
“We’ve already raised $68,000 (as of last Friday) and we wouldn’t be surprised if we reached $80,000 by the time we’re finished,” she said.
A total of 350 students have signed up to participate in the Relay for Life, with each of them donating $20 to the fundraising cause, said Franz.
Those same students have then asked family, friends, co-workers and teammates do make donations and each is expected to raise a minimum of $50, she said.
There have also been generous donations by local businesses and it’s all added up over the past several months heading towards today’s event, said Sadeque.
“We just kept hitting our goals and then hitting a new goal and it just kept going,” she said. “We also have held a lot of fundraisers here at the school, with the proceeds going to the Relay for Life. For instance, we held a bake sale this morning and raised some good money. The students and staff have been supporting all these events throughout the school year.”
While the students and staff pour their hearts into this event, the amount of money raised could not be achieved without the tremendous support of parents, business community and community at large, said Franz.
“We’ve had great support from everyone,” she said. “This is organized by the students, but we ask the entire community for donations and they’ve really come through for us.”
There is one student who has raised more than $7,000 in donations for the Relay for Life this school year alone, she said.
There’s an official opening ceremony early this morning to kick off the Relay for Life, then students participate during their lunch break and then after classes at the various fun events. The overwhelming support for the Relay for Life makes her proud to call Penticton home, said Sadeque.
“It has been incredible,” she said. “I was very proud of our whole team because of how smoothly this all came together. It has been crazy and unbelievable.”
All of the local businesses who have donated money have been recognized on the school’s Instagram page, she said. Students from Princess Margaret Secondary School and Summerland Secondary School have been invited to participate in this year’s event.
“We went and talked to the leadership classes at both schools and we expect 15 to 20 students from both schools to participate this year,” said Franz. “We’re trying to get this to be a School District 67 event. It can only make this event bigger and more successful with all three schools involved."
Sadeque and Franz promise they’ll remain involved in helping organize the 2027 Relay for Life at Pen High.
“We’ll be there to help and it will be even bigger and better,” said Sadeque.
