Kearla Bentz Employer Service 1

Service-Learning Journal: Clinic

For the summer semester at UW-L I offered my assistance with the Relay for Life event.

Relay for Life is an event sponsored by local organizations, including Billings Clinic, to

celebrate survivors of cancer, remember those lost from cancer, and fight back as a community

to bring awareness and help raise money for the American Cancer Society (ACS) to fund

groundbreaking cancer research and patient care programs. Relay for Life events occur

throughout the country, and there is one every summer in Billings which requires coordination

and participation of multiple local organizations to help organize the event.

To help with Relay for Life I volunteered to help sell Billings Clinic Relay for Life t-

shirts. These shirts were designed by one of the healthcare professionals working at the Billings

Clinic Cancer Center and the money raised from the sale of the shirts went towards the funds

raised for the ACS. These shirts sold fast with many Billings Clinic employees purchasing them

to support the cause and wear at work to raise awareness of the event. It was great news to hear

that all the shirts sold, but it meant that my services were not needed to sell them.

Although I wasn’t able to help with selling the Billings Clinic Relay for Life shirts, I was

able to help cover the first aid tent at the actual event. Surprisingly, I had never attended Relay

for Life because of other summer events occurring at the same time (Montana has a short

summer). There wasn’t much that occurred while I was covering the first aid tent. Only one

small girl scraped her knee and needed it cleaned and bandaged and some others needed some

bug spray or sunscreen. My colleagues said that right before I had gotten there an older lady

tripped on the track and fractured her arm! They said she was handling it very well and even

wanted to do another lap before being taken to the hospital!

Kearla Bentz Employer Service 2

Overall, I really enjoyed volunteering for Relay for Life and finally being able to attend

it. I enjoyed watching the different families/groups walking around the track that were there

supporting a family member or friend that was fighting cancer or remembering someone who

lost the battle. I thought the luminaria ceremony was amazing. They had hundreds of luminarias

around the track that people bought and wrote on to remember someone who lost the battle to

cancer or who was fighting cancer. They lit all of them at sundown and had luminarias spelling

out hope on the bleachers. It was very moving to see all of them lit up and to see the list of

names displayed.

I didn’t get a picture of myself at the event, but my son was able to come and experience

the relay and visited the first aid tent. The other girls working with me dressed him up in

superhero attire (that was the theme). Below are some pictures of my son, Carter, after he was

dressed for the relay and a link to the Relay for Life website. I definitely look forward to

volunteering at another Relay for Life. With a new job on the horizon the next Relay for Life

may be in another city.

https://secure.acsevents.org/site/STR?pg=entry&fr_id=105057