In May 1985, Dr. Gordon Klatt took the first step of his 24 hour marathon around a Tacoma, Washington school track and raised $27,000 for the American Cancer Society, thus the Relay For Life was born. The first Massachusetts Relay For Life was held in Springfield, in May, 1992.

Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society's nationwide signature activity. While primarily a fund-raising event, Relay's theme is "a celebration of life", honoring cancer survivors as well as paying tribute to those who have not survived cancer in each community.

Relay For Life is a fun-filled 12-24 hour event in which teams of eight or more people raise money in advance and agree to keep one member strolling, walking or running on the track at all times. Teams come from businesses, churches, schools, community organizations and families. Relay participants develop a strong emotional involvement in the event and almost unanimously rate it as a tremendous team-building effort.

Nationwide, Relay For Life events in 2005 raised more than $300 million through 4,400 events involving more than 3 million participants across 20 countries.

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer through, research, education, advocacy and service.

The American Cancer Society is the largest source of private cancer research for funds in the U.S. The success of the Society's research program is exemplified by the fact that 38 Nobel Prize winners received grant support from the Society early in their careers. The Society spends approximately $130 million each year on cancer research and has invested more than $2.7 billion since 1946.