How did the merger affect the ACSs Relay for Life program?
Our bread and butter for fund-raising is Relay for Life. It’s our 24-hour event. We’re in the 20th anniversary of Relay for Life. If Relay for Life were a not-for-profit organization, it would be in the top five of all not-for-profits. That’s how large it is. This year, we’ll raise about $300 million in Relay, and the South Atlantic division — we’re the No. 1 division. We’ll raise $60 million in Relay for Life. This year, we’ll have 600 events with the goal of $65 million. It’s more than an event. Really, its mantra is about a community taking up the fight. You have individuals coming together, an average of 4,000 to 5,000 people that come together at an event, and we have 600 of those within our division. Here in Gwinnett County, it’s the largest Relay in the country. In the 24-hour event, they raise about $2 million, and they’ll have about 15,000 or 16,000 people there — 20 percent of those are cancer survivors. We’re bringing together cancer survivors. It’s really a community even
