Goodbye Passionate Redheads

Cancer is a horrible illness, claiming thousands of lives every year. It has claimed a number of real life friends, and neighbors. A number of charities raise funds for research, and otherwise helping those stricken by the disease. The most well-known is the American Cancer Society, which is the recipient of the largest fundraiser in Second Life: The Relay For Life.


I first heard about the Relay For Life in 2007 after being told about it by one of my few friends on the Grid at the time. My visits to Second Life were sporadic at the time. Seeing how impressive the builds were, well, the sights helped encourage me to visit more often. Two years later in 2009, I was spending some time with a fun-loving group in Second Life, the Sunweavers, whom hung out at the Cutlass Club. As it turned out, many of them, notably most of the livelier personalities, were part of a Relay Team: The Passionate Redheads. I heard about, and got to see, the Wild West Exhibit for the Relay Track they made for that year. It was an exciting build with lots to see and plenty to do on, from a mine cart ride to river rafting.

The team was more than just my furry neighbors. There were a number of others in the ranks. All led by Sabine McGettin and Daaneth Kiviok. Sadly, one teammate had passed away, Artistic Fimicloud. Many of us had tags "I Relay for Fimi." The pink fox avatar was gone, but she lived on in the hearts of her friends.

In 2010, I joined up with the Redheads. For the season, we were in events like "Jail and Bail," and fun parties, such as the "Fanta-sea" in which this of us with menfolk aves danced underwater with them. And then came the Relay Walk. For the first time, I walked the track not alone, but as part of a team. A team made up of virtual friends and neighbors. The music played at times added to the feeling that we were doing something great. We raised over $6300 that year, and got an award for "Longest Running Team," as well as a Platinum Rank.

As the 2011 season arrived, we looked forward to setting new records. Then came a bombshell. Co-Captain Daan had suffered a stroke. We wondered what would happen? Would our friend pass away? Would our fundraising be ground to a halt? But Daan began to recover, and the team refused to quit, continuing to hold events. Among them were the three "Bid Me Human" events, notably the one with Sunweaver leader Rita Mariner putting her pelt on the line and getting 75,000 Lindens. We sponsored three sims on the track that year, and our own was a detailed one with a Fairy-Tale theme, with lots to see and a number of puzzles to solve. We raised another record amount. We got another Platinum rank award, in addition to Daan getting the Spirit of Relay award for continuing to fight cancer, even when recovering from a stroke. And in July 28, we threw the last Redhead party for the season, thankful for Daan's recovering and having stuck together for another successful year. Unfortunetly, This would be the last time we would celebrate with Daaneth and Sabine.

In 2012, Daaneth and Sabine took indefinite leaves of absence from the team. Dusk Griswold assumed temporary leadership with Lomgren Small's help. The team went on, and managed to reach Gold status. But this would be the Redheads' last hurrah.

After six years, the Passionate Redheads are no more. If nothing else, we raised over $30,000 US dollars in cash for the American Cancer Society. But we did more than that. We helped shape the Relay, bringing about the first Spirit of Relay award,  inspiring the "One Team" concept, and getting a number of prestigious awards through the years. And there was the bringing about of talent. With Lomgren Smalls and Alleara Snoodle, we had two of the most accomplished builders in Second Life. With Sunweaver leader Rita Mariner,  the team had a community behind it. And there were other noteworthy individuals, such as Dusk Griswold, Treminari Huet, Shockwave Yareach, Nydia Tungsten, Skylark LeFarve, and many more.

Gone, but not forgotten. May the Redheads' passion continue as those who Relayed under its banner go on to a new banner to fight cancer under.

Bixyl Shuftan

Passionate Redheads Pre-Season Team Meeting

On Friday Jan 27th, the Passionate Redheads held their first meeting of the year. The official start of the Relay fundraising season “Time for a Cure” isn’t until March 10th, but it wasn’t too early to plan. Team leaders Sabine McGetting and Daaneth Kivioq presided over the meeting, of which about a couple dozen showed up in the hour-long gathering.

A number of ideas were discussed. Themed dances such as 40’s jitterbug and 60’s rock were suggested. Daan told there would be more “Bid Me or Not” events, referring to the three “Bid me Human” events last year that culminated with Rita going around in a human av until the Relay weekend after 75,000 Lindens were raised. He suggested he might put himself on the line again in a “Bid Me Bunny” event, the mention of the av being a pink bunny getting a few chuckles. Rita mentioned that with Sunweaver Air changing hands, Club Cutlass would be remodeled, “When it is done, we can do a grand reopening and donate the proceeds to the RFL.” Also suggested was a fishing tournament and a pony fundraiser.

There were also a few recommendations. One was supporting other teams, such as the Steelhead Salmons. Another was getting events on the Linden Lab SL events calendar. Also mentioned was Bryanr Rickena’s RFL Passionate Redhead’s Museum in the Precious Dragons sim at (96, 32, 22), and that there would soon be a changing of Relay groups. The new chat group was “Relay for Life Volunteers,” the old SL Relay for Life being discontinued.

To read Sabine McGettin’s account of the meeting, go to her post in the Passionate Redhead’s Blog.

Top picture from Sabine McGettin

Bixyl Shuftan

Club Zero Gravity to Close

Yesterday on Sunday August 7th, Nydia Tungsten informed Second Life Newser that the space club Club Zero Gravity would be closing it's doors to regular events "until further notice." She cited real life events beyond her control as the reason for the decision. Club Little Dove, which is in the Southern Colorado sim, will be taking over its events for now, it's events being sponsored by sim owner Daaneth Kivioq.

Due to some financial setbacks, I will have to close the club for awhile until I know more of what will be happening. Thank you for the great times and I am looking forward to more great times as soon as I know I am more stable.

In recent weeks, Nydia has been organizing a "Club Alliance," which has attracted a number of clubs, such as Perri Prinz's Green Meadows Ballroom (aka Perri's Xanadu) which joined yesterday.

Bixyl Shuftan

"An Enchanted Evening with MoShang and Cypress"

Come to the beautiful Southern Colorado sim and the Enchanted Forest for a mesmerizing concert with Second Life artists MoShang Zhao and Cypress Rosewood as they present a two hour concert called "An Enchanted Evening with MoShang and Cypress" on July 7th, 2011 from 8-10 PM SLT. Don't miss this event, it promises to be spectacular! Sponsored by the Passionate Redheads, all proceeds from the show go to benefit the American Cancer Society through the Relay for Life.

Southern Colorado (98,170,51)

Daaneth Kivioq

RFL Group Passionate Redheads Announce Final Total Donations

On Tuesday, August 3rd, Daaneth Kivioq of the Relay for Life group "Passionate Redheads" made the following announcement:

This morning, the kiosks and vendors "died". While Relay itself was over two weeks ago, this marks the actual end of fund raising.

So how did we do? 7,009 USD, and we finished in 5th place - all the other teams that out did us were MUCH bigger. So thats a really good finish.

But the real measure of our success isn't the money - it's the love, compassion, and support we can show to each other, and giving us all a chance to fight back. When it comes to that, NOBODY does it better!

Thank you all!
Daan