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AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY COLLEGES AGAINST CANCER
Paint the Campus Purple
How will we do it?
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Together with your support, the American Cancer Society
saves lives by:
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Helping people stay well by taking steps to
prevent cancer or detect it at its earliest, most
treatable stage
Helping people get well by being there around
the clock through every step of the cancer
experience
Finding cures by funding groundbreaking
research that helps us understand cancer’s
causes, determine how best to prevent it, and
discover new ways to cure it
Fighting back by working with lawmakers to
help pass laws that defeat cancer and rallying
communities like yours to join the fight
Paint the Campus Purple Best Practices
Helping the American Cancer Society Save Lives
At Paint the Campus Purple activities, it is important to
make people aware of how your efforts are helping the
American Cancer Society save lives. Here are some ways
you can accomplish this:
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Taking part in Paint the Campus Purple
has other benefits, too:
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It gives you a chance to implement the four
strategic directions of Colleges Against Cancer:
advocacy, cancer education, Relay For Life, and
survivorship.
It’s a terrific way for you to build a stronger
Colleges Against Cancer chapter, and a way to
qualify for Leader of Hope status.
By being a part of Paint the Campus Purple,
your chapter can make a positive impact on
your campus’ Relay For Life committee efforts.
It’s important that your Colleges Against Cancer
chapter works with the campus Relay committee
on Paint the Campus Purple activities – working
together will help make your Relay a success!
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Ask your staff partner for information about all
that the American Cancer Society does to fight
cancer, by helping people stay well, helping
people get well, by finding cures, and fighting
back. Be sure to include that information at your
activities and events so people understand how
their support is making a difference.
Display cancer education messages or facts
about the American Cancer Society and Relay
For Life at your events. You may also consider
wearing purple clothing as you take part in your
planned activities.
Remind people that eating right can reduce their
risk of cancer by providing healthy purple food,
such as grapes.
If the event is outside, encourage people to
reduce their risk of skin cancer by using sun
protection.
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY COLLEGES AGAINST CANCER
Paint the Campus Purple
Ideas for Events
The following is a list of Paint the Campus Purple
activities that may be appropriate for your campus. Please
check with your campus administration and facilities
management department before doing any activities that
may interfere with normal campus operations. If you have
any doubt about whether a certain activity is allowed on
your campus, just ask. You shouldn’t bend or break any
rules as you take part in Paint the Campus Purple.
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Decorate a common area on campus with purple
ribbons, balloons, and American Cancer Society
Relay For Life posters and fliers.
Hold a mini-Relay on your campus. This helps
increase awareness about Relay and helps raise
funds, too. Invite teams to set up tables and hold
fundraisers.
Hand out purple candy with event information
attached.
Help support and acknowledge cancer survivors on
campus by giving them purple flowers or other gifts.
Tie-dye old Relay T-shirts as a fundraiser on campus.
Host a semi-formal Relay ball. Encourage guests to
wear purple and ask for a donation as admission.
Offer spirit points for students participating in
Paint the Campus Purple activities, and declare a
winner at the end of the festivities.
Hold a Relay rally on your campus. Invite teams to
have fundraisers.
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Ask a band to play and encourage donations from
those who attend. Invite guest speakers, such as
your Colleges Against Cancer Relay chairs, the
team recruitment chair, a survivor, a caregiver,
or someone whose life has been affected by the
American Cancer Society to speak during the concert.
Hand out candy to people who wear Relay shirts
on a particular day.
Hold a registration blitz. Have computers available
onsite for people to register as participants or set
up teams.
Hang Relay T-shirts on clotheslines or put Relay
shirts on statues around campus.
Write Relay messages in sidewalk chalk around
your campus.
Have students on campus fill out postcards for
survivors they know inviting them to participate in
Relay For Life, then mail them out.
Make cards to send to patients at a local hospital
or cancer center.
Make cookies or gifts and take them to a local
hospital or cancer center and invite hospital staff
and others to attend.
Ask students to make posters answering the
question, “Why do I Relay?”
Paint windows purple.
Offer a registration discount for Relay on that
day only.
Work with dining services to have a Paint the
Campus Purple dinner fundraiser with healthy
foods that have a purple theme. One school
convinced the dining hall to dye all of the food
purple for the day! Or consider asking your dining
facility to donate a portion of their proceeds to
your Relay For Life efforts.
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY COLLEGES AGAINST CANCER
Paint the Campus Purple
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Prepare a presentation for local elementary and
middle schools to educate children about Relay
and the American Cancer Society. Encourage them
to get involved with you.
Make yard signs with facts about the American
Cancer Society and Relay For Life and put
them around campus. (You can make these by
laminating pieces of paper and stapling them to
paint stirrers.)
Hand out purple ribbons for people to wear.
Show Relay information videos and recruitment
videos. (Check with your staff partner about the
videos that are available.)
Create a recruitment video for your campus and
interview people during your events. Ask them why
they Relay. Show it at meetings and post it on YouTube.
Set up an information table somewhere central
on campus where people can ask questions about
Relay and what they can do to get involved.
Make purple snowmen during the winter months
if you live in a place where it snows.
Display purple posters in the shape of a star or the
letters “HOPE.”
Put purple scarves and hats on the statues on campus.
Put purple ribbons around lampposts on campus.
Try “dorm storming”: make purple signs for people
to hang in their windows showing their support for
Relay and the American Cancer Society.
Create a purple mailbox or toilet, place it in one
area of campus (such as faculty offices, etc.),
and ask that people make a donation to move it
somewhere else.
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Have someone dress up as a purple statue (you
may have seen street performers do this) and put
out a container for donations. When people make
a donation, the “statue” moves.
Have a competition between teams, and give out
prizes for the most people signed up, or the most
money generated.
Make a purple “slip and slide” on the quad.
Put purple dye in campus fountains. (Remember:
Ask your campus administration first!)
Make and sell purple drinks and cookies.
Ask the grounds crews to paint the lines on your
ball fields purple.
Tie up bunches of balloons and attach information
about cancer. Hand them out or trade them for a
donation.
Have a speaker, such as a researcher or survivor,
address the campus.
Ask faculty and staff to participate by using purple
chalk or by making the backgrounds of their slides
purple for the day or week. Ask that the professors
explain why they are using purple.
Get sororities and fraternities involved by asking
them to hang purple signs outside their houses
with catchy anti-cancer slogans or messages such
as “We support the American Cancer Society.” or
“We’ve signed up for Relay For Life. Have you?”
Decorate the lobbies of the residence halls in purple.
Host a purple dorm-door decorating contest.
Cover the backgrounds of bulletin boards or
information kiosks with purple tablecloths or
purple butcher paper.
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY COLLEGES AGAINST CANCER
Paint the Campus Purple
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Have the president of the university (or other
well-known figure, such as the basketball coach,
football coach, etc.) temporarily dye their hair
purple. Turn this into a fundraising contest by
collecting donations from students as “votes” for
the campus figure they would most like to see with
purple hair.
Hang a Relay banner from the highest point of
campus.
Decorate the campus cafeterias with purple
streamers and balloons, and use purple tablecloths
and sheet-liners on the trays. Use table tents to
advertise your Relay event or your Colleges Against
Cancer chapter.
Place a large quantity of fight back flags on the
campus quad or green.
The focus in planning should be on meaningful
celebrations, not necessarily large-scale activities.
Suggestions for Show Us Your HOPE
activities might include:
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Additional Ideas: Show Us Your HOPE
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As the American Cancer Society Relay For Life celebrates
25 years of bringing hope to communities nationwide,
volunteers worldwide have an opportunity to celebrate the
progress we’ve made in the fight against cancer by taking
part in a special activity called Show Us Your HOPE.
The goal of Show Us Your HOPE is to visually depict how
Relay For Life brings hope to your campus and to the
community at large. Activities don’t need to be elaborate
to send a powerful message of hope, but they should be
visual and engaging in order to encourage others touched
by cancer to get involved. Keep in mind, too, that these
activities are meant to complement – not replace – regular
Relay events.
Lining a main street on your campus with
luminaria one evening
Gathering survivors in a central location for a
simple candlelight ceremony
Releasing butterflies in a town square or campus
quad
Forming the letters H-O-P-E with survivors and
caregivers at a local field/stadium
Encouraging everyone in your community to wear
purple for a day
Tying purple ribbons on trees on a well-traveled
street
Getting as many people as possible to replace their
doorway lights with purple bulbs during Paint the
Campus Purple week
Of course, larger events designed as great photo
opportunities will also help tell the larger story to the
media about the movement that Relay For Life has become.
Suggestions might include:
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Filling a major landmark area/tourist destination
with survivors and caregivers
Illuminating buildings, fountains, or monuments
with purple lights
Coordinating the largest gathering of survivors in
your state
Spelling “hope” in the windows of a large building
at night
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY COLLEGES AGAINST CANCER
Paint the Campus Purple
Sample Slogans for Paint the
Campus Purple
Below are a list of slogans that others have used for Relay
For Life and Paint the Campus Purple:
• We do it all night!
• Ask me how I can keep you up all night.
• We make one-night stands worth it.
• The ultimate one-night stand
• Want to spend the night with me? Ask me how!
• Can you keep up for 24 hours?
• Largest co-ed sleepover
• Wanna get Relayed?
• I can go for miles, if you know what I mean.
• I can do it all night long.
• Walk it out.
• Why rush when you can walk? (This might be
appropriate to promote Relay during sorority and
fraternity rush.)
• Marga-Relay-ville
• You caught the Relay bug. (Hand out bug erasers
or stickers labeled with this slogan.)
• One disease. One night. One life.
Helpful Tools
Below you’ll find items that may help you request
donations for and spread the word about both Paint the
Campus Purple and Relay activities. These range from
sample donation request letters to PSAs to news releases
and fliers you can use for publicity.
Sample Donation Request Letter
[Name of addressee]
[Street address]
[City, state ZIP]
[Date]
Dear [Insert addressee here, as in Ms./Mr. Xxxx],
I am writing on behalf of the American Cancer Society Colleges Against Cancer chapter at [College] in [city, state]. My
name is [your name here], and I am a [your class here – i.e., freshman, sophomore, etc.] at [College] studying [major].
On [date of your event], we are hosting an event called [name of event]. This event aims to [insert purpose of event] by
[what you’re doing at the event to accomplish your mission]. In order to do this, we need your help.
As we are a nonprofit charitable student organization, we have a very limited budget. We would like your help in achieving
the success we have envisioned for our event. For [name of event] to be a success, we need [specific quantity if possible
– i.e., number of tables for centerpieces. This may not always be necessary, such as asking for donations of bottles of
sunscreen.] of [product needed]. We hope you’ll consider donating these items. Please note that your contribution will be
noted at [name of event]. With your donation, [company name] is helping support the American Cancer Society and its
ongoing mission to saves lives from cancer by helping people get well, helping people stay well, by finding cures, and by
fighting back.
Please let me know via email [insert your email address] or by phone [insert your phone number] at your earliest
convenience so we can make arrangements for your contribution.
Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
[your name]
[title, if applicable]
Colleges Against Cancer of [College]
Sample Sponsor Recruitment Media Alert
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
First Name Last Name
Phone: (XXX) XXX-XXXX
Email: [email protected]
[Dateline] – The American Cancer Society urges local companies to take up the fight against cancer in their community by
sponsoring Relay For Life.
Relay For Life is a life-changing event that brings communities together to celebrate the lives of people who have battled
cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much. During the event, teams of people
gather at schools, fairgrounds, or parks and take turns walking laps. Each team tries to keep at least one team member on
the track at all times. Before the Relay, teams are asked to raise funds through events such as car washes, garage sales, and
more.
By supporting the fundraising efforts of a local Relay for life team or by contributing to the event itself, your company is
not only joining the world’s largest movement to end cancer, you are also helping the American Cancer Society save lives
by helping people get well, helping people stay well, by finding cures, and by fighting back. Sponsorships can be tailored
to your company’s ability to give, and you may also choose to participate by forming a team of your own. Since cancer
has touched nearly all of us in some way, getting involved in Relay For Life is a great way for your company to show the
community that you support the ongoing work to defeat this disease.
If you would like to become a corporate sponsor or find out how to build a team for the American Cancer Society Relay
For Life in your community, call 1-800-227-2345.
The American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by saving lives, diminishing
suffering and preventing cancer through research, education, advocacy and service. Founded in 1913 and with national
headquarters in Atlanta, the Society has 13 regional Divisions and local offices in 3,400 communities, involving millions of
volunteers across the United States. For more information, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit cancer.org. To learn more about the
American Cancer Society Relay For Life, visit RelayForLife.org.
Sample Paint the Campus Purple Media Alert
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
First Name Last Name
Phone: (XXX) XXX-XXXX
Email: [email protected]
College Students Will ‘Paint Campus Purple’ to Save Lives from Cancer
[University/College Name] Students Host Cancer-Fighting Activities to Support the American Cancer Society Relay For Life
(City, State) – (Month, day, year) – [University/College Name] can expect to have another school color on campus this
week – purple. In an effort to save lives from cancer, students involved in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life® will
join colleges across the nation to raise awareness and encourage campus involvement in Relay For Life by painting the
campus purple.
“Every one of us has been touched by cancer in some way. That is why we’re painting our campus purple by spreading
information and hosting events this week to remind everyone that we all have the opportunity to fight back against this
disease,” said [insert name and title of Relay chair or Colleges Against Cancer president]. “I hope our entire campus and
community will come together to support the American Cancer Society Relay For Life by attending our Paint the Campus
Purple activities and joining us at Relay.”
The American Cancer Society Relay For Life is a life-changing event that brings together more than 3.5 million people
across the country, including thousands of college students, each year to celebrate the lives of those who have battled
cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much. This year’s event at [University/
College Name] will be held on [date] at [time] at [location]. At Relay, teams of people will camp out and take turns walking
or running around the [track]. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event
because cancer never sleeps. Funds raised through the event help the American Cancer Society saves lives by helping
people stay well, helping people get well, by finding cures and by fighting back.
To generate excitement for the event, the following activities will be held this week to cover the campus in purple:
• [Insert events and activities for Paint the Campus Purple with dates and times here.]
The American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by saving lives, diminishing
suffering and preventing cancer through research, education, advocacy and service. Founded in 1913 and with national
headquarters in Atlanta, the Society has 13 regional Divisions and local offices in 3,400 communities, involving millions of
volunteers across the United States. For more information, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit cancer.org. To learn more about the
American Cancer Society Relay For Life, visit RelayForLife.org.
Sample Calendar Listings
For Immediate Release
NAME, PHONE NUMBER
DATE
Please include the following information regarding the upcoming community events in your calendar listings.
American Cancer Society Relay For Life
(Date, time p.m.) The American Cancer Society of (COMMUNITY) will hold its Relay For Life® event on (DATE). Everyone
in the community is invited to help save lives from cancer by taking part in this unique and inspiring event. Relay For Life
will be held at (LOCATION). For more information about Relay For Life, contact the American Cancer Society at (LOCAL
PHONE NUMBER) or visit RelayForLife.org.
Cancer Survivor Recognition
(Date, time p.m.) – Cancer Survivor Recognition. Cancer survivors (anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer)
from the (COMMUNITY) area are invited to celebrate their victory over cancer by walking the first lap of the American
Cancer Society Relay For Life, an event that helps support the Society’s efforts to save lives from cancer. The event and the
Survivors Lap will be held at (LOCATION). Each cancer survivor will receive a (free T-shirt, ribbon) to wear while walking
the track. There is no cost to participate; families are welcome. Cancer survivors should call the American Cancer Society
at (LOCAL PHONE NUMBER) to register (and request their T-shirt size).
Luminaria Ceremony
(Date, time p.m.) – Luminaria Ceremony. The American Cancer Society will hold its Relay For Life Ceremony of Hope – a
luminaria ceremony to recognize those touched by cancer in (COUNTY) on (DATE) at (TIME). Individuals or companies
can help the American Cancer Society save lives by making contributions in memory or in honor of people who have been
touched by cancer. Each person will be recognized by a lighted luminaria displayed at the Relay For Life event. Luminaria
contributions can be made by calling the American Cancer Society, (UNIT OFFICE) at (LOCAL PHONE NUMBER).
Sample Public Service Announcements
Start date: Immediately
Contact: Name
End date: Day before event
Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Please use the scripts below for live-read public service announcements regarding the upcoming American Cancer Society
Relay For Life.
:10 second announcement
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Want to help save lives from cancer? Join the American Cancer Society Relay For Life.
Learn more at RelayForLife.org or call 1-800-227-2345.
:15-:20 sec announcements
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Want to help save lives from cancer? You can by taking part in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. Learn
more about how you can help celebrate, remember, and fight back at a Relay event near you by calling 1-800-2272345 or visiting RelayForLife.org.
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Are you a cancer survivor? Join us to celebrate your survivorship and help the American Cancer Society save more
lives by taking part in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. For more information, call 1-800-227-2345 or
visit RelayForLife.org.
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Remember or honor a loved one touched by cancer and help the American Cancer Society save lives ­by
sponsoring a luminaria at your American Cancer Society Relay For Life event. For more information, call 1-800227-2345 or visit RelayForLife.org.
:30 sec
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Lace up your sneakers and help support the fight against cancer at the American Cancer Society Relay For
Life! This unique team event gives everyone in our community a chance to celebrate people touched by cancer,
remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. Team members take turns walking the track and
raise funds to help the American Cancer Society save lives from cancer. Entertainment, great prizes, and teambuilding are part of the fun, so recruit your team today! Call 1-800-227-2345 or visit RelayForLife.org for more
information.
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More people than ever before are surviving cancer. If you are a survivor, we invite you to take part in the
American Cancer Society Relay For Life. This is your chance to celebrate your survivorship, honor loved ones lost
to the disease, fight back against cancer ­– and help the American Cancer Society save more lives from the disease.
For more information about Relay For Life events in your area, call 1-800-227-2345 or visit RelayForLife.org.