Teams, survivors, caregivers and the public are invited to attend and walk during the Relay for Life for the Anthracite Region on Saturday at the Tamaqua Area High School Stadium.

The American Cancer Society fundraiser runs from 5-9:30 p.m. and features entertainment, food, guest speakers and a luminaria service.

But most important of all, the event raises funds for cancer research and allows folks to meet others who have been affected by the disease in some way, said Chairwoman Wanda Nerino.

“Our event’s mission is to end cancer as we know it, for everyone, by improving the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research and patient support, ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat and survive cancer,” she said.

Cancer survivor Linda Carlson will share her story and talk about the importance of raising awareness and providing support to fight cancer, and Celena Sagan will talk about what it means to attend Relay for Life in support of her mother and her five-year journey with breast cancer.

Nerino said so many have been impacted by cancer. Her father, Louis Nerino, was extremely healthy — and not on any prescriptions — until being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. She tended to him as he ailed.

“He was gone in three months,” Nerino said.

She lost a brother-in-law to the disease soon after her father passed, and said she knows others who are battling the disease — including a woman who was given two years to live but with treatment is outliving that prediction.

“That makes me want to work to keep going for other people so they can enjoy their lives and not be cut down quickly in the middle of it,” Nerino said.

At the Relay for Life event, cancer education and resource support materials will be available, and Eric Rothstein, director of Star Community Health at St. Luke’s University Health Network, will deliver a message.

There will be music by Hatter and soloist Angela Nardini, along with a basket raffle and 50/50. St. Luke’s Hospital Miners Campus will provide hamburgers, barbecue, hot dogs, halushki, pierogies, pizza and ice cream sundaes.

The evening will be topped off by the signature event — the Luminaria Ceremony. The luminaria will be sold throughout the evening for those who want to support, honor and remember those affected by cancer.

At 8:30 p.m., the candles in the luminaria bags will be lit and candlelit laps will be made in honor and remembrance.

“You meet people of a similar mind or who are survivors, and those who are wanting to do something in the fight against cancer,” Nerino said. “The relay is a celebration in some ways, of our accomplishing our fight, and in some ways it’s kind of a solemn event in which you remember those you love or those you knew.”

Nerino said the number of teams participating this year is higher than last, and she’s hoping to see even more arrive.

But you don’t have to be part of a team to show up, she said.

“I want (attendees) to see all the other people who are working to accomplish as much as they can against cancer,” Nerino said. “I want them to enjoy the camaraderie and know that no one is going to give up.”

For more information, to participate, donate or purchase luminaria, contact the American Cancer Society office at 570-805-4555.

To form a Relay for Life team, call 570-778-4734 or the office.