Honor, recognize and celebrate those who have battled cancer.

That’s just what the Relay For Life teams in Selma and Dallas County plan on doing this year.

To get this year’s campaign started, Relay For Life Selma and Dallas County is having a kickoff event Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the George P. Evans reception hall off Water Avenue.

“The kickoff event is to get everybody excited about the year and find out what their general ideas are and what they plan to celebrate,” said Tina Yelverton, Relay for Life Selma and Dallas County leadership committee chairwoman. “This is where you get everybody hyped up and excited about the year.”

The event is held for team captains and anyone else looking to lead a team of their own. The theme this year for Relay For Life is “celebrate.”

“They can celebrate anything from Mardi Gras to a wedding to a birthday as long as they can tie it to raising money for Relay For Life,” Yelverton said. “Our goal this year is to raise $115,000.”

Also at the event, Relay organizers will be introducing the new committee members. As the new chairwoman herself, Yelverton said she is excited about the event and ready to lead the teams to a successful year.

“I’m really excited, really honored to even be asked to do this,” Yelverton said. “Anybody who wants to have a team, we encourage them to come and get signed up that night and get their materials.”

Along with their new materials, team members will be given advice for the upcoming year and tips on how to make it as successful as possible.

“The teams set their own goals,” Yelverton said. “It’s completely up to them what they do to raise the money. We’re there to cheer them on, but it’s completely up to them.”

Yelverton said a great way to keep up to date on what Relay For Life has going on and to keep track of the different teams is to go to the Relay For Life Selma and Dallas County Facebook page.

“Go and like our page and keep up with what’s going on, who’s got what going on at any given time,” Yelverton said.

Another event that was originally scheduled for Tuesday was Rainbow the Sky.

Because of the potential for high winds, the sky lantern event has been rescheduled for Dec. 2.

The event will take place at the Riverfront Park at 6:30 p.m. There will be a ceremony to recognize the men and women, who have dealt with the terrible disease and to honor the lives lost.

“It’s going to be a really touching ceremony,” Yelverton said. “The sky lanterns, Rainbow the Sky event, it is an event that we have put together. It’s an event that we can raise money and get people fired up about what’s going on and have a ceremony to recognize our survivors and also to honor the ones that passed away.”

Anyone interested in purchasing a lantern for the ceremony can contact Yelverton at The Selma Times-Journal, 410-1732 or look on Facebook for a list of committee members to contact.