Champaign-Urbana residents will be walking to help find a cure for cancer this weekend.

The Relay for Life of Champaign County will take place Saturday at Centennial High School, beginning with registration at 5 p.m.

Geo Pulliam, publicity chair for the event and a third-year team captain, said the purpose of Relay for Life is to raise money to find a cure to prevent losing loved ones to cancer.

“It’s an opportunity to get out there and find a cure,” Pulliam said. “Everybody’s been affected by cancer in some way.”

There are an estimated 500 official participants who have signed up online and are walking in teams. So far, the event has raise $37,000, Pulliam added.

Ashley Fearday, staff partner with the American Cancer Society, said approximately 60 teams are participating in the event this year. The goal is to raise $245,000 for the American Cancer Society.

“It’s always a struggle to get people out there. Any money we raise I consider a success,” Fearday said. “It’s a great way to reach out to those who are going through the battle of cancer.”

She said the society recommends each team member raise $100 and that each team consists of 12 to 15 people, yet there is no maximum number of people a team can have. She added that last year’s Relay for Life raised just under $207,000.

Fearday said she is part of the organization because she feels like she is giving back to the community.

“I’m expecting a great crowd,” she said. “We expect a high-energy event around our survivors. They are our focus that day.”

Pulliam said he wants University students to get involved and to get to know cancer survivors. He added that he wants students to “be a part of the whole community that is relay” and “to make sure that everybody knows they are not alone.”

The theme of this year’s relay is “Wish Upon a Cure.” It is taking place during Father’s Day weekend to get more area families involved.

The event is supposed to be a symbolic representation of the fight with cancer, he said. The start of the race is meant to indicate the beginning of a cancer patient’s fight with the disease because he or she is full of energy. As the night continues, the patient has a drained reserve of energy because of radiation and chemotherapy. Therefore, the entire 12-hour event is supposed to walk the person through the steps of a cancer patient’s struggle. The event’s 6 a.m. conclusion represents a new tomorrow, Pulliam said.

Shawna Cremeens, co-chair of the event, said the money raised during Relay for Life helps fund research projects to find a cure for cancer. It also helps fund resources at the American Cancer Society, such as the Look Good … Feel Better program, where cancer patients can receive emotional support, have volunteers drive them to chemotherapy appointments and have someone help them understand their medical bills.

Cremeens added that the 12-hour event also symbolizes that cancer does not sleep because people have to deal with the disease 24 hours a day.

“I would love to have a cancer-free world at the end of my lifetime. Will that happen? I don’t know, but we can try,” she said. “Doing events like these can help newly diagnosed people. There is hope. And we are walking for a cure.”