Cancer has deeply touched Meg Taylor’s life -- which is why she and her husband are this year’s Relay For Life of Wareham publicity coordinators.

“My husband and I both had a lot of cancer affect our families,” said Taylor, who lost her father and a son to the disease. “We kind of wanted to do something to give back, to fight.”

The Relay For Life of Wareham is part of a larger national walk hosted by the American Cancer Society to raise money for cancer research. Teams of walkers take turns walking around local high school tracks, but people who are not participating in the walks are invited to attend. Besides walking around the track, Taylor said, there are games, food, raffles, and more.

In advance of the relay, the Wareham chapter of the American Cancer Society plans to spread the word about the event via a "Paint the Town Purple" campaign on May 2. For the campaign, the chapter will ask businesses to hang posters with information about the relay, and purple ribbons in their storefronts. The goal, Taylor said, is to raise more awareness for this year’s relay.

Taylor said the chapter received support from the town, too.

“The selectmen were so supportive of us,” Taylor said. “They mentioned they would put a purple ribbon on Town Hall.”

Even though there will not be information attached to the purple ribbons hung about town, Taylor said she hopes the ribbons will pique residents’ curiosity, and they will seek out more information about the meaning behind the violet symbols.

But businesses and town offices aren’t the only ones who can participate in the event.

“If anybody wants a purple ribbon to put up, they can definitely contact us,” Taylor said. “We have tons of ribbons.”

Relay for Life Community Manager Kelsey Newton said this year’s Paint the Town Purple initiative is much larger than last year’s. Newton said she hopes a bigger initiative will mean more people realize they don’t have to participate in the Relay for Life event for the full 18 hours, or even register to be a team.

“Everyone is encouraged to come down,” Newton said. “Even if people are just interested in coming down and grabbing food.”

The Wareham Relay for Life will also host a yard sale on Memorial Day weekend, May 23, in the Kaleidescope of Dance parking lot. All proceeds will go towards the relay, and the American Cancer Society.

To request a ribbon, or to get more information about the relay, campaign, or yard sale, contact Meg Taylor at 508-295-0574.