Many student groups and organizations are walking to raise money and awareness for cancer victims and there is still plenty of time to participate.

Tammy Veach, co-chair of the American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life,” said she has gotten an overwhelmingly positive response from Eastern groups and members of the community who want to participate in the charity walk and events held in Peterson Park in Mattoon.

“We are getting a lot of good participation, but we are still welcoming groups to come in,” she said.

Groups who participate separate into teams of eight to 12 people, and then try to raise at least $100 each by getting sponsors for the walk.

“There will be people from all walks of life there,” she said.

The “Relay for Life” will last overnight, beginning on Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. and ending the next day at 6 a.m. The pathway will be illuminated with candles lit in memory of cancer survivors and victims.

The walk will also be accompanied with entertainment, games, activities, food booths as well as free food.

A member from each group will have to be on the track throughout the night and groups can request a camp site.

Groups have to pay a $100 registration fee, but will receive free t-shirts and gifts from the ACS.

Veach said 30 different groups from the community and Eastern have signed on, but she will be accepting applications until next fall. She hopes to raise $32,000 for the cancer cause, “but we hope to go far beyond that.”

Veach encouraged people to participate in the relay because “cancer touches so many lives.”

One in two men and one in three women will have cancer during their life and Veach said she hopes the awareness and money raised at the event will change lives.

“We want more people to survive it, less people to have it and we want to have a cure.”