RFL Sunbeamers, Roos With A Dream, Teams Level Up After Medieval Fun Faire

 

By Bixyl Shuftab

 

 

Saturday May 6 was the day of the Relay for Life's Team Sunbeamer's Medieval Fun Faire. At Caledon Downs, from 9AM to 5PM, people could take part in activities such as archery, axe tossing, kissing booths, racing horses over an obstacle course, and jousting. There was also a "jail and bail" with team captain Rita Mariner as the appointed sheriff. 

The event was organized by Cynthia Farshore, who only the week before had done the Sunbeamer and Roos Air Show.

 

There were more than a few jokes among those showing up. Of the hatching throwing contest, "Well, you 'axed' for it, Cuz." "Not a real problem. I have, a 'handle' on it." Also there were a few from team "Roos With A Dream," one commenting, "Yea we can get a little vulgar, but ya know,  when you live in a place where even the sun is trying to  kill you, you gotta learn to laugh at things."

There was a contest at the archery shoot, with the prize being a special bow. The winner was Nephilim Ventris.

 

 

Of the jousting tournament, several took part including Liska and Ginger. The winner of the jousting tournament was Jeff Keith (Redshirt Zepp), getting a 1000L prize. He also won the axe throwing competition, the latter which got him a special axe as a prize. Cynthia would also tell me, "Skysong (sgudeman Resident) won the horse jump competition prize of L$1000."

 

As for the Jail and Bail, everyone must have been on their best behavior as the stocks were empty that day.

 

Just a few minutes before 3PM, I saw a balloon floating over, It was DJ Kakya and more of the 'Roos team."We'd like to thank the Sunbeamers for letting us be part of another fun event!" one shouted after they landed. And before long, they were on stage dancing away, with those in the audience dancing as well.

 

The donations soon started, "Okay, everyone, here is our first challenge tonight. When the kiosk reaches 10,000, Roos will add 5,000." Someone mused, "10,000 Roos? How much is that in Lindens?" There were also a few comments about Australia being founded in part by penal colonies, one American commenting, "Our country wasn't founded by convicts, but the crooks are running it now." 

 

But the comments soon turned to the main issue, "The Roos' 'dream' is of a world where cancer has been ended as a concerning health issue. In this world: - the words "You have cancer" no longer strike FEAR in people's hearts... - the treatments for cancer cause no PAIN.. - care is not EXHAUSTING for loved ones...- and the GRIEF of losing our family and friends before their time is a thing of the past. We’d like to enlist your support in making this dream come true sooner rather than later so more people will be spared the agony of dealing with cancer."

People started chipping in. And at one point, a dragon showed up to hover. Cynthia warned him, "Uuuhh, just a warning, your butt is right on top of the fireworks launcher." So he landed nearby and joined in the dancing. 

At one point the talk turned to a planned music video of "Cheeseburgers in Paradise" that was never made. Kalya commented, "By the way Aussie  cheeseburger recipe!, get out your pens to make notes :  1 hotdog roll  sliced down the middle, enough tomato to cover lengthwise, a  slice of shaved ham,    some onion rings, again  lengthwise!  4 slices of  cheddar cheese,  lay that on top of the  rest, salt and petter to taste, then put the cover on, put in sandwich machine and cook! ... Anyway that's the cheese burger I know." "No burger in your cheeseburger?" someone asked. "That is how its done in Oz !" the DJ responded. "Ummm, that's called a Ham and Cheese Kayla."

The donations kept coming and coming, and at one point Cynthia looked at the total, and did a fainting gesture, "Dang been in so much IM and WHAT!!!!" Shockwave responded, "Okay which one of you keeps fainting my goat?!"

As the event got closer to the end, fireworks went off, better visible with one's viewer at Midnight.

Of the kiosks around the rest of the festival grounds, the money donated into them added up to 17,570 Lindens. But the lion's share was done at the concert kiosk. A whopping amount of over 150K ended up in the stage kiosks thanks in part to the remote donations. When word got out the teams were getting close to leveling, still more came and it was enough to send them over the edge. 

 

 

A total of 170,826 Linden dollars was raised between the Sunbeamers and Roos, the Sunnies making 94,198 L and the Roos getting 76,628 Lindens. This bumped the Sunbeamers to over 750K, and making Sapphire rank, and Roos With a Dream past a half million and into Jade.

 

Before leaving, one of the Roos would say, "We love doing these events with Sunbeamers and we love the support of you all just being here!"

Cynthia would later post on Discord an after-action report. 

 

Well as the Sunbeamer Medieval Fun Fair went, it was fun however the fair was a little weak in attendance but did just a tad better in donations. Together with the Roos it came out Roos gained L$76,628 and Sunbeamers got L$94,198 for a two team total of L$170,826. Thus the Roos made Jade and the Sunbeamers crossed the Sapphire line. oh well maybe we'll do better next year.

Still, the event did get both teams a lot of cash. As of the writing of this article, the Sunbeamers are ninth of 173 teams on the totals page (leaving out the Sci-Fi Expo, which isn't really a team). The Roos were bumped up to number fifteen. 

And this is far from the end of the Sunbeamer's efforts. There's still one more Bid Me event to donate to (more on that later), the team's participation at the Relaystock. And of course there's the Relay Weekend next month.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Roos! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Various Relay Events in February

By Bixyl Shuftan

 It's been about two weeks since the Relay for Life's season Kickoff on Saturday February 15. As soon as it ended, other events began happening right away. Among the first, at 11:30 AM taking place within walking distance from the stage where the Kickoff took place was a "Family Feud"  game between some of the Linden Moles and some noted Relayers.

While the Relayers were in the lead while I was there to watch it, the Moles were not going down without a fight, "Mole powah!"

Later that day were other events. This included "RFL Celebrates Mardi Gras." It took place at 4PM at "The Club" in the Yes sim.

A few days later on the evening of February 18 at 7PM SL time, Matt Carlton DJed in front of a crowd at the Home and Garden stage.

Matt played a number of country songs, such as "Live Like You Were Dying," "I'm Going To Love You Through It," "He Rode All The Way To Texas," and "What Do You Say."

"Another good one was 'Braid Her Hair,' Nspire, lesser-known singer that I always forget about and he's really good. But it's kind of like Rascal Flatts' 'Skin,' about a young girl that has cancer. But this one tells about how she dreams about all the things that she can do if she wasn't sick, and it's really pretty people liked it really well too."

The following night, Matt and I were chatting, and decided to stop by the Relay Hard Cafe. Located high above the Woodloch sim and run by Team Shadow, it had it's last scheduled event the night before and was to be taken down soon.

"We are not renewing our tier," Gem Sunkiller would later tell me, "We have a new place for weekly dance parties. We will be at the Washburn on Wednesdays." She would tell me the Cafe had been operating since 2014, "Before that it was weekly pool parties or weekly parties on the dock. The Cafe saw many great events, and the sense of community there helped some Relayers form lasting friendships." Of the events, "Most all of them were interesting.  I remember an evening where rock was the theme and most people were jamming on their guitars. Last Strides season it was home for our Strides campaign. All that pink was interesting." She had a hard time picking out a favorite event, though one had something spontaneous and unplanned, "One night we were jamming away, and the cheerleaders from one of the high school teams took over with a drill formation. I forget which team that was, but it added so much fun." Of the team captain, "(Sasha) says her two favorite where the night we dressed as an airline crew, and the Latin/Salsa night.

"We never knew what form our fellow Relayers would take, some were human, some were animals, some were fantasy creatures, and all were welcome. The friendships that were formed, the spirit that was ignited, and mutual respect and care between those who attended over the years is the most memorable part.  We hope to continue those same values at our new location, and take it higher.  We are ready, Game On!

"We may be back with the Relay Hard one day."

Most days, there was a Lantern Release Ceremony, in which numerous Asian paper lanterns were lit and let loose to float into the night sky.

Nothing is more beautiful, and a wonderful time to reflect on those we have lost.  One person commented yesterday, " It is like sending little prayers or kisses to heaven."   

Friday night February 21, the Steelhead Salmons had their first event, which was "Sims themed." Held in Steelhead Bay, Fuzzball Ortega, the estate owner, was the DJ. Almost 3000 Lindens were raised that night, bringing the team total to almost 11,000 Linden dollars.

On Saturday February 22 was "Roll for a Cure" by "We Are Dragons," high above Moonlight Caye, "If you love D and D come on over."

Come join We are Dragons in rolling Initiative against cancer!! Located at Barkuloo Retreat in the game room at 3pm SLT!! Open player seats to the earlest an willing for adventure!!

It was amusing, and a bit ironic, seeing dragons roleplaying an adventure game as humans. In the game, the characters are tasked with dealing with a bad of goblins that keeps making trouble. Their job isn't necessarily to kill them, just deal with them so they stop being a problem. Getting creative, they get some liquor, and persuade the goblins there's a big party in town. The goblins end up getting drunk, and the town guards easily toss them in jail. While some wonder if this was a waste of good ale, the characters are complemented on their cleverness.

On Sunday February 23 was a "Show and Tell" by Saffia Widdershins. It was at 2PM the Theater at the Hope 3 sim.

People could show off either old items, or interesting items they'd gotten along the way. One of Saffia's favorite's was a "Big Apple" hat. "I can hear the taxi horns and sirens on your hat Saffia," someone from the audience mused.

While I've collected plenty of stuff over the years (mostly notecards and landmarks), what stood out to me was the six inch "microkitty" avatar made by Lomgren Smalls several years ago.

But what stole the show were a couple miniature builds by Cassie Eldemar (Cashew Writer).

 "It's a replica. Well, my interpretation, of one of the Carnegie libraries."

For a little comedy, Saffia rezzed a large coffee cup, which had been made into a kind of hot tub. Would hot-tubbing in coffee be a java addict's dream?

These were just a few of the various Relay for Life happenings in the past two weeks. Be sure to watch for more in the next few months, peaking in early June with the Relay Weekend.

"Game on Cancer!"

Bixyl Shuftan

The 2019 Relay Season Ends

By Bixyl Shuftan

"All good things must come to an end." And so it was the case with the Relay for Life's fundraising season for 2019. Things were somewhat different this year as the season had been shifted a month early, from February to June instead of from March to July, to avoid an anticipated drop in activity in Second Life, and donations. For this season, "All Aboard For A Cure," besides some successful teams from last year and before, there were some new teams that did very well, such as the motorcross teams in the "Five Days of Relay."

Although the Relay Weekend was on June 8 and 9, and the track was taken down soon after, the season hadn't ended quite yet. Some teams planned one or two more events for a little extra push to raise a little more funding. On Wednesday June 19, the Spirit of the Dragon RFL team decided to throw one more party for "Just One More Hurrah! ...Please Join us as this remarkable team celebrates a last Hurrah before Wrap Up !! ... Tonite  we sing and dance and thank all for a wonderful Relay Season."

The party went from 4 to 7PM SL time, with musicians Loreen Aldrin, Melenda Baptiste, and
Frogg Marlowe. There were also Adorsy, Kitty Creations and EED Home and Garden 1000L gift certificates available. At the end of the event, team founder Darkstone Aeon announced the team had hit Jade level fundraising, which had been far beyond his original expectations at the season's start.

Spirit of the DragonRFL was going to be a team of 1 - I was going to put a few vendors out at my store and that was it - whatever was raised  would be good enough -  because of a few special folks who pushed and prodded    and made me think why I wanted to relay - we have now hit L$: 511,051  so for Kammie Eva Ted Jad - BB and a few others who took me kicking and hollering  down the Relay Road I thank you !

Two days later on Friday February 21, three of the smaller teams would have a joint event, hosted by team Mini A Chu and involving Ryukyu Warriors and Harshlands, from 11 AM to 8 PM SL time.

There's a Mini Dragon Roo Wrap-Up party in Harshlands For a Cure with Friends Lurking in Shadow starting at 11am slt Friday all the way till 8pm SLT with DJs from multiple teams and this will be our last attempt to bring 3 teams to Silver: Mini A Chuu, Ryukyu Warriors and Harshlands, bring your friendsssss, plus this is an exhibition of things, for this duration only, if you donate a certain amount to either Ryukyu Warriors, Mini A Chuu, Harshlands, you will get to choose a diorama of your choice, an absolute unique and ultimately detailed Mini A Chuu's specialized product

from Chuu Hikari Akamine

And for one random hour (given im awake) any product branded Mini A Chuu products bought will all be donatwd to each team RFL kiosk

It was a fun party, with some of the new noodle dragon avatars dancing away with the humans and furs. Teams Mini A Chuu and Harshlands would reach Silver level.

 Saturday June 22 would be the last event of one of the larger teams, Team ACTS Royal Ascot. Following the horse race was a dance.

The event, and later donations, would move the team up past Sapphire level (750,000 Lindens) to Ruby level fundraising, 1,250,000 Lindens / $5000 USD raised.

That afternoon and evening was perhaps the last event before the closing one. Team Shadow held a "Summer Solstice" party at it's Shadowed Forest Glen.

You are invited to join Team Shadow as we celebrate the Summer Solstice, Saturday from 5:00 to 7:00 pm SLT at the Shadowed Forest Glen. Formal or fae/fantasy fear requested, however, not required. Bring your kiosk and help us celebrate the close of the 2019 RFL of SL season.

The Sunbeamers and Roos With a Dream were among the teams taking part. Team Shadow would hit Silver.

Finally on Sunday June 23 was the Relay Wrap-Up event.

Join us ... as we say goodbye to the 2019 Relay Season!  Come and celebrate the amazing year we had!  Final Fund Raising Awards, as well as Community Champions, Spirit of Relay, and the Gordy Klatt Awards will be given.  It is time to PARTY and CELEBRATE!  See you there!

While the official start was at 10AM, there was some music and dancing beforehand.

Some final awards for the season would be given out. Among the people honored were Jamie Broken for her technical work and Ishtarangel for her photography.

There would be some more dancing afterwards.

It was a party that would last for a while, the last event of the season.

There would also be a poll given out for a choice of two themes for next year: cartoons or games.

Shortly after the Wrap-Up, Stingray would send the following message:

As the American Cancer Society staff partner for Second Life, I would like to sincerely thank our community for its generosity and support. This year, 198 teams participated in the Relay For Life movement and raised $238,900 to help the American Cancer Society attack cancer in our virtual world.

We were honored to welcome and celebrate the lives of hundreds of cancer survivors. Our luminaria ceremony demonstrated the community's warmth and strength in honoring survivors and those who are no longer with us.

I would also like to thank the Relay For Life event volunteer leadership teams, team captains, and participants who worked so hard to make this year's event a success. And of course, thank you to our premier sponsors, RGF Estates, The Chilli Post, Relay Refresh, Rockliffe University, and Sol Existence. By coming together once again, you all made this season a spectacular success!

Together, we can beat our biggest rival, and we're already getting started on planning for 2020. To ensure you receive  timely information, follow us on Facebook, join the Relay For Life Volunteers Group, and/or visit RelayForLife.org/SecondLife.

With all of my appreciation and gratitude,

Stingray9798 Raymaker
Jeffrey Montegut
Sr. Consultant, Virtual Community Development
American Cancer Society

 For my own team, the Sunbeamers, it's the end of another successful year. Three of our most active members had to deal with real-life trouble, including one having to go to the hospital to have cancer treated after thankfully discovered early so it was more easily dealt with. Despite the problems, the team continued to do well, and ended up with achieving Jade level for the second time in it's history and the second time it won a campsite trophy. For the Sunweaver/Angel community, "the little team that could" continues to be a source of pride, and over a decade after her passing continuing the work of the late Artistic Fimicloud.

So we say goodbye to the 2019 Relay for Life in Second Life season "All Aboard for a Cure," and look forward to the next one.

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes From Bid the Lindens Bald

By Bixyl Shuftan

Besides being the scene of the Relaystock from Friday May 4 to Sunday May 6, the Relaystock sim was the scene of another fundraising event: Bid the Lindens Bald. Organized by the Relay Rockers with the help of Linden Lab, nineteen of the Lindens were putting their hair on the line for the purpose of raising money for the Relay for Life in Second Life. The RFL in SL is one of the larger chapters of the Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society's largest fundraiser.

Last year, the first "Bid the Lindens Bald" event raised almost a million and a half Linden dollars, a huge success. Like last time, the Lindens volunteering were in three teams. The Product Ops team had Alexa Linden, Ekim, Grumpity, Oz, and Patch. The Support Leaders team had Ami, Garry, Keira, and Tommy. The largest team was Support Agents, which had Corky, Evie, Ginger, izzy, Kristin, Madori, Sparky, TJ, Vix, and Vanessa. At the Relaystock sim entrance, there was a kiosk for each of the three teams. And at the end, the team in third place would go bald for one day for each 5,000 Lindens the two other teams combined raised.

On Wednesday May 9 at 4PM SL time, the kiosks were frozen and the totals added up. The Support Leaders team got the most, a total of 180795 Linden dollars donated. Second place went to Support Agents, whom had gotten 99467 Lindens in their kiosk. And third place went to Product Ops, which got 28,287 Lindens. The three teams combined had made 308,549 Linden dollars. It would be Alexa, Ekim, Grumpity, Oz, and Patch Linden whom would be without their hair for over a month.

Thanks to some computer trouble, I didn't make it in time to see most of the Lindens get their haircuts. "Looking good," Trader Whiplash, who was playing "Almost Cut My Hair" by Crosby Stills Nash and Young when I arrived, would say, "So far still 10 ears!" But I did arrive in time to get some pictures, such as Oz Linden dancing away, "Oz is looking pretty good here, and no blood." Oz himself asked, "Send recommendations for cool scalp tattoos!"

Alexa Linden, whom with a shaved scalp was covering it with flowers.

Grumpity Linden was apparently just getting her haircut.

Later on, I would see her sans hair.

Ekim Linden looked like he didn't have much hair to begin with. But who's going to argue with a dragon? As for Patch Linden, I never did see him, "Patch is soo in hiding," OldeSoul Eldemar remarked.

Governor Linden was halfway sunken into the ground when I saw him. As he had scissors in his hand, apparently he had been doing at least some of the haircuts, and the tiny skunk in the place was staying clear of him while he had them. Someone upon seeing him remarked, "I KNEW IT! I KNEW the Lindens have overworked underpaid hamsters running the servers." Vanessa Linden told him, "Shhhh don't tell our rodent secret!"

Madori Linden dancing away with her long green hair.

Keira Linden was on the winning team, and didn't have to go bald. But the pixie Linden did so anyway.

Kristin, Garry, Evie, Caleb, and Tommy Linden. We don't know however if Caleb was the right shark or the Left Shark.

A better picture of Kristin Linden, whom was a skeleton avatar with a refrigerator in her hair. I asked her what the kitchen appliance was doing there. Madonna Daehlie commented, "What? No, Bixyl.. You got it backwards.  Kristin's fridge has grown a skeleton." Kristen herself replied, "It's where I store my leftover souls I eat." Another remarked, "Kristins fridge head reminds me of that meme: 'I don't know whats going on in this picture, so heres an image of a skeleton with a refrigerator on its head.'" That got the bony Linden's attention, "Oh if that's an actual thing please do send it to me. Hahaha!" Late in the party, one would remark, "Looking at Kristin, I'm wondering if the company pays a living wage?"

Oldesoul in a tiny avie, and Tazzie "Tazz" Tuque in a "Pawlice" uniform.

Corky Linden in a velociraptor avatar, with wig. I joked, "Corky, when my friends see you, they're going to think Second Life has an 'Ark Survival Evolved' sim" Corky responded with a "Haha Bixyl." I turned out Tommy Linden was the Ark player, "Oh my God! Bixyl, I love Ark! ,,,Corky watches me play a few times. ... She likes the dinos, she does not like me shooting them (laughter)."

I saw this little guy with a piece of scissors. Was he trying to do a haircut?

This pony was with the Relay for Christ team.

Looking outside the dance area were some vans from the Relaystock a few days earlier.

While there were a few jokes at the Lindens' expense, there were also some complements. Corky Linden responded to them, "Awwww (smile) It wouldn't be nearly as fun to work with everyone if it wasn't for you guys." "You guys are fantastic too, don't believe for a minute that I don't know the work you all put into making SL go."

Eventually, the event started to wind down. Tommy Linden spoke as he left, "Alright folks, its been a lot of fun, thanks for coming out and hanging out with us and donating! You all enjoy the rest of your evening!" Alexa Linden told those still there, "Thank you all for making this event such a success." Evie Linden would say, "Thank you everyone for your donations! This has been a spectacular event! My hair also thanks you (smile)."

And so, another Relay event had a successful end, raising over a thousand US dollars for cancer research.

Bixyl Shuftan