Through fundraising and events, Colleges Against Cancer has established a presence on campus in the hope of making a world without cancer.

Colleges Against Cancer is a registered student organization on campus and part of a national collaboration of college students, faculty, and staff dedicated to fighting cancer by volunteering for and supporting the programs of the American Cancer Society.

Bailey Wilson, the organization’s event chair, said the group’s mission is “to bring student awareness of cancer and the effects it has on people around them.”

Wilson said the organization raises money for the ACS because it is a well-deserved and important cause.

“This cause is very important because it is not just all talk and no game,” Wilson said. “Everything they do is to make a difference somewhere.”

Since Colleges Against Cancer is an organization made up of student volunteers, Wilson said they are always looking for more members because it is important for the college age group to care about this cause.

“Especially in college, we tend to live in our own bubble and forget about the outside world, or the people around us, when in reality there are people all around us, in class, in clubs, our teachers, our family and more who all are affected by cancer and we may have no idea,” Wilson said.

Wilson said her RSO fundraises year round, with the donations for ACS going toward the mission of finding a cure for cancer.

Colleges Against Cancer hosts the Relay for Life event every year on campus, one of their biggest fundraisers of the year.

Relay for Life is the ACS’s signature event, where teams raise donations prior to the event and walk laps during the event to support the fight against cancer.

Emily Pavone, the president of Colleges Against Cancer, said Relay for Life is important because it brings awareness to college students.

“We get so caught up in our selfish lifestyles with the idea that ‘it will never happen to us’ that we don’t have idea when it may happen to us or someone close to us,” Pavone said.

Students interested in registering a team for the 2016 Relay for Life can do so at the event’s website. More information about the event is to be announced at the RSO’s first meeting of the semester.

Pavone said it is not too late to join Colleges Against Cancer, and anyone can come to the first meeting to learn more about the organization.

“The ACS is great about finding (volunteers) and making that difference,” Wilson said.

Lynnsey Veach can be reached at 581-2812 or at lmveach@eiu.edu.