A very enthusiastic core committee of volunteers and a new event partner are getting off to an early start promoting the excitement of Newtown’s annual Relay For Life, a noncompetitive gathering of supporters, caregivers, survivors, and those battling cancer walking overnight to raise funds and awareness about the disease and its prevention.

The 2016 event is not only taking place a bit earlier next year, it has reverted to an overnight celebration and is returning to Fairfield Hills in partnership with NYA Sport & Fitness. The new partnership is also elevating the Relay’s potential for supporting cancer prevention by co-promoting health and fitness boosting benefits that can come with NYA memberships.

Community members, and especially those looking to honor or remember loved ones who lost the fight, their caregivers, or current and long-term survivors are encouraged to attend the official Relay kickoff Thursday, November 19, from 6 to 8 pm, at NYA in the Fairfield Hills campus.

During the kickoff, and over the course of the next few months leading up to the main event happening at NYA from 5 pm on Saturday, May 21, to 5 am Sunday, May 22, the health and sports facility is offering discounted six- and 12-month memberships specifically tied to its Relay partnership.

Every membership secured during these special NYA/Relay events, including the November 19 kickoff, will generate $50 toward the cost of staging the May Relay. That means funds generated by donations, team registrations, luminaria sales, and other related fundraising can apply toward American Cancer Society research, programs, and direct services to those touched by cancer in Newtown and the surrounding region.

With the NYA partnership, the 2016 Relay will appropriately adopt a game theme — so attendees to the November 19 kickoff will be greeted with a variety of table games to play while they are introduced to some of the key volunteers heading up next year’s event.

The 2016 Relay is being tri-chaired by Tracy Broomer, Christopher Farrington, and Juli Pressmar. Newtowners are free to drop in to the event anytime between 6 and 8 pm; there is no fixed program for the kickoff — it is being staged as more of an open house concept in consideration of families and those who may have just a few minutes to pop in. NYA is at 4 Primrose Street.

Anyone interested in volunteering, donating, participating as an individual or with a team, or corporate sponsorship opportunities for either the Relay or the survivors reception also set for May 21, should contact ACS liaison Alyssa Amaturo via e-mail at alyssa.amaturo@cancer.org or call 203-563-1511 for more information on how to get involved.

New information is also being added regularly to the local relay’s website: relayforlife.org/newtownct — or anyone interested can monitor updates via the local Relay's Facebook page.