This year's community Relay for Life event, which raises funds for the American Cancer Society, will have a visibly strengthened presence from Cornell.

The university will provide a refreshments tent at the 15-hour event, slated for 6 p.m., Friday, July 13, through 9 a.m., Saturday, July 14, at Lansing High School, 300 Ridge Road (Route 34B), Lansing, N.Y.

Connections between Cornell and the American Cancer Society are not new -- the American Cancer Society has contributed more than $7 million through 23 separate grants to fund Cornell research in the past decade, both at the Ithaca campus and at Weill Cornell Medical College. For the past several years, Cornell and Ithaca College students have held their own Relay for Life event each April. This year, more than 2,000 students participated and raised $215,000. Also, an annual daffodil sale, in which Cornell students sell daffodils on campus and in the community, raises another $20,000 each year.

The Relay for Life, which celebrates survivorship and raises money, is designed to bring together people in the community who have been touched by cancer. Teams take turns walking or running laps, with each team trying to keep at least one team member on the track at all times. The relay honors survivors during the Survivors Lap at 6 p.m.; loved ones lost to cancer are honored during the Luminaria Ceremony at 9:45 p.m.

At this year's relay, people will be able to sign up to participate in a landmark new American Cancer Society study, the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3). This is a confidential, long-term volunteer study designed to study the links between lifestyle and cancer development. Men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 who have no personal history of cancer are eligible; the goal is to enroll 500,000 adults from various racial/ethnic backgrounds from across the United States. Through the CPS-3, as well as through the relay itself, participants, supporters, friends and family can make a difference in the fight against cancer.

While this is the American Cancer Society's third CPS study, it is the first time that enrollment will be conducted through the Relay for Life. This year 64 relay events (out of 4,200 Relay for Life events nationwide) were chosen to be enrollment sites. Enrolling at a relay site is the only way to participate in the study.

"I am sure that our community will come forth and support the study," said Allison Knoth, community executive for the American Cancer Society. Many members of the Cornell community already know how much cancer research is being done on the Ithaca and Weill Cornell campuses, and "individuals who participate in the Relay for Life are very passionate about finding a cure," she said. "We know that if an opportunity like this is available, they will want to enroll, if they are eligible."

Enrollment times for the CPS-3 are 5-9 p.m., July 13, at Lansing High School. For more information about CPS-3, see http://www.cancer.org/cps3, e-mail cps3@cancer.org or call 1 (888) 604-5888. If you are planning to enroll in the study, contact Knoth at Allison.Knoth@cancer.org.

For more information on the local Relay for Life or to register online, go to http://www.acsevents.org/relay/ny/ithaca. There is a $10 registration fee.