Local Businesses Signing Up Residents to Join Relay for Life

Douglaston bakery will host bag decorating sessions to support cancer survivors and victims every Thursday this month leading up to June’s Relay for Life.

This year’s relay will take place at Fort Totten on June 2 and 3. The event will kick off with a 5 p.m. opening ceremony and a Luminaria ceremony at 10 p.m. on the first day.

Those interested in signing up to donate or take part in the event can do so at Giftalicious and .

Demetra Sirica, owner of Giftalicious, said her bakery will provide space for bag decorating every Thursday in May at 2:45 p.m.

“It’s a good volunteer event,” she said. “This is pro-neighborhood – a pro-Douglaston – event.”

Lumanaria bags cost $10, while moon or star donation cards are $1.

Currently, a Wall of Hope adorns the windows of several empty storefronts on 235th Street. Stickers honoring local cancer survivors and victims have been placed in the windows.

Dorothy Matinale, of Station Realty, said she got involved in the relay because one of her real estate clients was a survivor.

"I was very moved by it all and felt it was a great cause as I lost my mom when she was only 55 to cancer," she said.

Matinale said her relay team will walk from 5 p.m. on June 2 through the morning of June 3.

For more information on the Relay for Life, call Station Realty at 718-279-4800 or visit the American Cancer Society’s website for the event.