You are invited to the first team meeting for the 2014 season, set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, in the Fellowship Community's Auditorium, 3000 Fellowship Drive, Whitehall.

We are starting our 11th season for the Relay For Life of Whitehall. Please make noise and come out and join your relay. Anyone who lives, works or plays in Whitehall, Catasauqua, Northampton or the surrounding areas is welcome.

Silence won't finish this fight – action will. To get loud, we need everyone in every community to join us today. Now is the time to obliterate cancer. Make some noise by becoming part of your relay. You – the public – are our best chance to fight this dreadful disease.

Get involved, cheer others on, make our event known and volunteer your time for a great cause.

Visit our website at www.relayforlife.org/pawhitehall or visit us on Facebook at Relay For Life of Whitehall, PA.

Teams are usually made up of three or more people, but you can be a one-person team or part of a 30-plus-person team.

Teams vary. Some include cancer survivors, some are formed in memory of someone who lost the fight to cancer. Other teams are made up of people with no personal involvement with cancer but know someone at work, church or through a common friend.

We ask that team members raise $100 each. Once you start, you will find it easy to ask your friends for a $10 or $20 donation.

This year's Team Recruitment and Retention Chair is Doreen Huber, who can be contacted at dorhub@yahoo. com. She will run the team meeting, answer your questions and motivate you throughout the year.

The American Cancer Society celebrated its 100th birthday in 2013. All the national marketing for the 2014 season will be focusing on creating more birthdays and encouraging all of us to help finish the fight against cancer. After 100 years of saving lives and creating more birthdays, we're leading the way in working tirelessly to transform cancer from deadly to treatable and from treatable to preventable.

Here are some statistics worth noting on Relay For Life and what we have accomplished:

· Today two out of three people diagnosed with cancer are survivors for at least five years. In fact, more than 400 people a day in the U.S. are celebrating birthdays that would have otherwise been lost to the disease.

· We've contributed to a 20-percent decline in cancer death rates in the U.S. since the early 1990s. That means we've helped save nearly 1.2 million lives during that time.

· We've played a role in nearly every cancer research breakthrough in recent history.

· Each year, we help cancer patients everywhere get the help they need when they need it. For example, last year alone we assisted more than a million people by providing free services such as a place to stay while traveling for treatment, rides to treatment, emotional support and much more.

· Our work has helped lead to a 50 percent drop in smoking since the 1960s, and this has contributed to a drop in overall lung cancer death rates.

· We'll amplify our efforts to keep fighting for everyone to have access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air and more.

Join us on Oct. 8. Contact Doreen or Shari Noctor, event chair, at shari@sharinoctor.com.