One day. One night. One community. That's how the American Cancer Society describes their Relay For Life. Farmingdale's Relay was held this past Friday. I was once again very honored to be part of this event. The Relay is a time to celebrate those who have battled cancer, remember those lost and get inspired to fight back. Those who have shared the same experience find common ground, hope and healing at Relay. By participating, you show you have the power to continue the American Cancer Society's progress toward a future where cancer doesn't take the lives of our friends and family. The process involves individuals, families and communities. Last year I had the privilege to walk the first lap with the purple shirted cancer survivors. This year I chose to walk the second lap with the caregivers. Once again, the experiences and memories from that short lap will stick with me forever. Last year the Relay was a relative unknown to me. As mayor, I was asked to come and participate. As I wrote last year in my column, the event moved me very much and I promised to participate this year and help spread the word about this wonderful event. I received a call from Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto alerting me of this wonderful event called the Relay For Life. Mr. Venditto was going to be the honorary co-chairman for this year's relay. As part of his good government initiative he was asking local municipalities to get involved in community events. It was easy to get on board as we already were! The Village of Farmingdale was decorated with purple ribbons along Main Street and throughout the village thanks to the efforts of Trustee Christiansen and the Beautification Committee. We were able to publicize it in the Village Newsletter and my previous columns. This year's event, once again, was a tremendous success. Tom Hickey and the entire Relay team did an incredible job organizing this event. The outpouring of support from the Farmingdale community was noted by the many speakers at the opening ceremony. The event raised over $92,000. I have written time and time again about how special the Farmingdale community is. This event is a glowing example. While this emotional event takes place over a 12-hour period, we have to remember that the fight does not stop until cancer is eliminated. The fight is fought one day at a time, one night at a time and needs the entire community to fight it. The Village of Farmingdale is already making plans for next year. We intend to empower our community to get involved and become part of the Relay. We are committed to making sure that our community will help with the fight to eliminate cancer, support those with cancer and always remember those that we have lost.