New Year's Resolutions... Survivor and Caregiver Style!

It’s a new year and what is the most time honored tradition for January?

Resolutions, of course!

In addition to adopting a healthier lifestyle including eating more healthy foods, getting more exercise (any movement you love counts! Can you say Dancing? Walking? Shopping? Yes! They all help contribute to relieving stress, lowering blood pressure, improving overall health (including less cancer risk and even helping with diabetes!)

Let’s make 2018 our year to add some new resolutions to our Relay Life. Remember our Survivors and caregivers. Start in January to develop your list of survivors from your 2017 year. Here are some helpful ways to ensure your 2018 Relay For Life will have increased numbers of survivor and caregiver participants!

• Invite your survivors and caregivers to your kick off and have a special recognition planned
  
• Remember your survivors and caregivers during holidays: Valentine’s Day, Easter (and other religious holidays celebrated in your area),May Day,4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas (and Hanukah)
  
• Determine who among your survivor and caregiver list might be veterans and remember them on appropriate days.
  
• Invite survivors and caregivers to be a part of your leadership team. Their input can be invaluable
  
• “Stay in touch” by using cards, post cards, email, phone calls, texts and what about personal greeting on their face book walls!
  
• Ask for opinions of your survivors and caregivers. Find out what would make their Relay experience more memorable, comfortable, fun and simply “better”.
  
• Offer rides to Committee and Team Captain Meetings

I know once you start thinking of ways to better engage your survivors and caregivers your own lists will far exceed this short list. We spend so much energy on our mission and it IS working. Cancer deaths are down (meaning survivor numbers are increasing) It is now time to remember our growing number of survivors and caregivers in everything Relay from the planning stages to fund raisers to the actual event day.

Your challenge:

• Create your own list for your survivors and caregivers for your event
• Implement one new action item each month
•  Create a survivor/caregiver committee (not simply one person who might handle the survivor dinner)

Created by Lori Kuhuski, North Central Survivor/Caregiver Lead 2018