Beaufort County’s Relay for Life chapter kicked off its new year this week and announced an award it received from the American Cancer Society.

The chapter held its first meeting of the year at Beaufort County Community College’s Building 8 Auditorium on Thursday night where team representatives, event leads and representatives from the American Cancer Society met to discuss this year’s goals and initiatives, as well as to celebrate winning the 2014 Power of Hope award for the South Atlantic Division, consisting of North Carolina and South Carolina. The award, given to the chapter on Oct. 28, was won for the number of registered survivors per population size. Last year, the chapter had 291 survivors registered, said Dawn Johnston, one of three event leads for the Beaufort County chapter.

With this year’s theme being “Rockin’ It Out For a Cure,” Johnston and her fellow event leads, Carol West and Sonya Fortescue, presented a slightly wacky and energetic performance to the music of “We Will Rock You,” by Queen, getting all in attendance pumped up for this year’s Relay For Life. As one of the changes implemented by the ACS, each chapter will have three event leads this year, rather than two, and rather than having a planning committee for Relay, the group will be called the Event Leadership Team. For the past few years, the event leadership team has formed its own Relay team to fundraise like all the other teams registered, Johnston said.

“We’re really excited about things,” Johnston said. “We want to get people pumped back up and get going because cancer doesn’t sleep and neither should we. We want everybody in Beaufort County to be a part of Relay For Life.”

This year, Relay For Life will be held May 1 and May 2 of 2015 at Washington High School, and the chapter has set a goal of registering at least 300 survivors and raising $122,000, Johnston said. Last year, the organization raised just over $126,000 to go to aid cancer research.

“One of the things is we really are hoping we can have more survivors,” Johnston said. “That’s one of our big things. We Relay because of our survivors, as well as those we have lost to cancer. It’s important we continue what we’re doing.”

During the kick-off meeting, nine teams were represented, but the group is hoping to have around 35 teams at this year’s event, Johnston said. Denise Hockaday, a ACS staff partner, presented information about the “Road to Recovery” program, which involves seeking volunteers to provide transportation to cancer patients who do not have the means to get to and from treatments and appointments. Requirements to be a volunteer for the program include a good driving record, a valid driver’s license, auto insurance and a vehicle that is in good working condition. Volunteers must also be between the ages of 18 and 85 and must submit to background and DMV checks, according to Hockaday. Other programs were discussed, as well, like the Hope Lodge in Greenville that is available to cancer patients and can help alleviate having to drive back and forth to each treatment, Johnston said.

“Something else we’re really trying to do is raise more awareness of the programs that are available to folks,” Johnston said. “We need volunteers for those programs.”

All in attendance also participated in a “Ribbon of Hope” ceremony, celebrating caregivers, honoring those battling cancer and remembering those who have lost their battle, Johnston said.

Johnston said the chapter will continue meeting each month leading up to this year’s event. Team captain meetings at Beaufort County Community College’s Building 8 Auditorium are scheduled for the third Thursday night of each month, which includes Dec. 18, Jan. 15, March 19 and April 16. The event leadership team will meet the first Thursday night of each month leading up to the event at First United Methodist Church of Washington, which includes Dec. 4, Jan. 8, Feb. 5, March 5 and April 2.

Anyone interested in volunteering, starting a team or for more information about 2015 Beaufort County Relay For Life, contact Dawn Johnston at 252-943-5061 or dawnjohnston27817@gmail.com, Carol West at 252-944-3814 or carol_boyd_west@yahoo.com or Sonya Fortescue at 252-945-1501 or spmfort03@hotmail.com. For more information about the “Road to Recovery” program, visit www.volunteertodrive.org or contact Denise Hockaday, ACS staff partner, at 252-695-9054 or denise.hockaday@cancer.org.