Everyone is welcome to attend Relay for Life’s Red Carpet Affair this weekend at NIU.

This year Relay for Life will be hosted at NIU. Activities will begin 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and will be held at the North 40 field behind Barsema Hall and the College of Engineering. Everyone who comes is welcome camp out and stay until the event ends 6 a.m. Sunday.

Relay for Life will continues throughout the night because cancer never sleeps, Bogue said.

Brittany Bogue, staff partner at the American Cancer Society (ACS), has supported Relay for Life at NIU. Relay for Life is a social event sponsored by the American Cancer Society (ACS), an organization responsible for raising awareness about cancer and increasing funding for research.

Bogue said this year’s theme is a red carpet affair. People who attend will get the chance to play Mega Twister, an enlarged version of the children’s game. They can also do Zumba, an aerobic dance workout, and Minute to Win It, a rendition of the popular television game show.

The event will also have a live DJ and other smaller games, Bogue said.

“The event begins with an opening ceremony where volunteers, administrators and even cancer survivors will come up and speak,” ACS administrative assistant Meghan Goldbeck said.

Throughout Relay for Life, different groups will take turn walking laps around a track when their number is called, Goldbeck said. Before the teams can walk, there is a survivor lap for cancer survivors and the caregiver lap where family members and caregivers can walk around the track.

Of the teams participating in the race, the NIU Chemistry Club is in second place for donations with almost $2,800 from selling wristbands. Senior biochemistry major Kelsey Phillips is this year’s chemistry club team leader and said the team was dedicated to Kevin Ballantine, an NIU student who passed away January after battling leukemia for three years.

“The goal is not to win by raising the most donations,” said Jon Carnahan, chemistry club faculty advisor. “The goal is to raise awareness about cancer.”

The luminaria cermeony is a crowd favorite, Goldbeck said. The ceremony is a candle-lit occasion meant to honor those who lost their battle with cancer and honor those who continue to fight it.

Donating is quite easy, said Ashley Wittemeyer, publicity chair for Colleges Against Cancer. Students can log onto www.relayforlife.org/niuil and donate with credit or debit. You can also mail donations to 143 First St., Batavia, Ill.