When I get on a tear, I get on a tear, especially when it comes to fundraising for health-related causes. I don't know if I've mentioned that I'm a former American Cancer Society staffer charged with fundraising responsibilities. In fact, I was a Relay For Life specialist! I love that event. It's so much more than just a fundraiser that term doesn't even begin to describe it.

Here's what I'd like to do. If you're participating in a RFL, whether as an ACS staffer, member of the committee, team captain, or team participant, I want you to let us know. I'd like to turn this blog into Relay Central! If you're blogging about Relay, I'd like to know it.

I'm less interested in dates and locations (people can get that off the ACS website) of upcoming Relays as I am in personal stories. Send photos, leave comments telling us about your Relay experience, or brag about your team's theme, the amount of money you raised, etc.

Even though it's been a number of years since I worked with ACS (left there in 1999), I still "feel" Relay...the sites, the sounds, even the smells. My eyes still water each time I think of the excitement and inspiration of the Survivor's Lap kicking off the event, or the solemnity of the luminary ceremony. I still cackle win I think of some of the crazy team themes, tent decorations and costumes. I recall the fact that even at 3 a.m. the adrenaline was still pumping and sleep was nowhere in sight.

I had the great privilege of being the staffer of the largest Relay in my state back in 1997, where we raised nearly $150,000 in one night. That pales by today's standards. In fact, a few years later that same Relay did nearly $400,000, and became the largest Relay in the entire Mid-South Division of ACS, which included five southern states. I helped start Relays in three different communities. Relays that continue to raise funds to this day.

I'm not attempting to pat myself on the back. The credit goes to the wonderful group of volunteers I worked with in community after community. If any credit belongs to me, it's that I had a good eye for who would make for a great Relay chair. Once they were recruited, my job was easy. They did the lion's share of the work.

There's so much I could say about this event. I will reserve that for later should time allow. Suffice it to say, with Relay For Life, the American Cancer Society continues to have a winner on its hands.