Selma and Dallas County Relay for Life team captains met Tuesday to finalize plans for their annual fundraiser and awareness walk.

Bridget Mills is a senior community manager and organizes Relay for Life Walks and other projects for six counties, including Dallas County. She has been working for the American Cancer Society for the past six years.

“Over 5,000 communities do this around the world. Relay For Life is an opportunity for us to do three things. Our mission is to celebrate, remember and fight back cancer. We come together and celebrate the lives of survivors,” Mills said.

This year’s Relay For Life will be this Friday at 6 p.m. at the Selma Lions Club, located at 2401 West Dallas Avenue.

The walk will feature a memorial service where people will call out the names of loved ones who they have lost.

Luminaries will be for sale at the walk and will cost $5.

Bridget said the fight back initiative is everyone making sure they get annual screenings, eating healthy, exercising and taking other precautions. There will be information about cancer at the walk as well.

“We pull together all of these awesome teams. There are almost 40 who have been fundraising since September. This is the culmination of their hard work where they can celebrate how far they have come in fundraising to support the work that the American Cancer Society does,” Mills said.

Mills said she feels like supporting Relay for Life and The American Cancer Society is important.

“I don’t know of a person who hasn’t been touched by cancer. We’ve all been affected by it and when someone is going through it in our community, we are all impacted by it,” Bridget said.

Dexter Dozier is a representative for three Relay For Life teams.

He said he has been involved with fundraising and other activities since last year.

“It’s important to always raise awareness about the disease. I am looking forward to this year’s Relay For Life because I try to stay physically in shape, and it is a good opportunity to get a lot of that done,” Dozier said.

Dozier said Relay For Life is also a time to form relationships and support systems with others who share the same struggle with cancer.

“You can find encouragement and the energy to keep fighting the disease. It helps people to not give in. When you bring everybody together into a group setting, it gives more understanding and can let someone know they are not by themselves,” Dozier said.