Students, faculty, staff and other volunteers stayed busy for 12 hours at this year’s Relay for Life at UMSL April 12 and 13. Cold weather moved the event indoors to the Mark Twain Athletic and Fitness Center. Groups of participants walked relays for 12 hours to raise more than $17,000 for the American Cancer Society.

More than 350 people on 33 teams raised more than $17,000 to fight cancer last Friday at Relay for Life at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

“It all went very smooth and we actually made it to 6 a.m.,” said Brandi Greishaber, a senior majoring in business at UMSL.

As president of UMSL’s chapter of Colleges Against Cancer, Grieshaber was in charge of making sure people stayed awake and raised money from 6 p.m. April 12 to 6 a.m. April 13.

With super heroes as their theme, this year’s UMSL relayers for life donned capes and masks to symbolize their efforts to “fight back, fight the disease,” Grieshaber said.

The group honored cancer survivors with a special dinner in their honor and lit luminaria candles in memory or honor of a friend or loved one affected by cancer. Food was provided by the Department of Athletics and disc jockeys from The U student radio station provided the music.

Among some of the more enthusiastic participants to the Relay for Life was UMSL Chancellor Tom George. He welcomed everyone at the beginning of the event and then returned hours later to be taped to the wall.

According to Grieshaber, a dollar donation got you one piece of duct tape to stick the chancellor to the wall. Lots of dollar bills and duct tape later, there was enough tape to hold him to the wall momentarily. Not to worry, Grieshaber said, he was only about an inch off the floor.

The UMSL group was part of a global effort of more than four million people in over 20 countries. Money raised during Relay for Life goes to the American Cancer Society and the fight against cancer.