It's not just a purple bus — it's a rolling petition and a testament to how cancer touches all of our lives. Each of the more than 34,000 signatures gathered so far on the bus is an abbreviated story of courage, struggle, and hope. Each in a heartfelt way says, "I Care About Cancer and I Vote."

The American Cancer Society's (ACS) Celebration Bus is back in the South, after having traveled more than 18,000 miles, and visited more than 235 events in 17 states. And this is just the beginning.

The first stop was Harlem, N.Y, on March 7. After journeying through 40 states, the bus will end at the nation's capitol six months later. On Sept. 19, 2002, the ACS will hold its Relay For Life Celebration on the Hill at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The Celebration on the Hill event — never before attempted in this magnitude — will serve as a call-to-action for our nation's elected officials. ACS will have 3,000 volunteer ambassadors brought in from all 435 Congressional districts and all 50 states. They are the heart and soul of this project, the face and voice of the American Cancer Society. Their collective message to Congress will be heard: make cancer a national priority; more funding is needed.

In support, the thousands of signatures gathered across the country from the bus will be on display.

The shrink-wrapped, autographed bus has taken on a spirit all its own. The rolling petition personifies a grassroots political awakening. Like a torch, from back roads hometown to mega-watt city, it passes on the ACS Relay For Life sense of community, camaraderie, and dedicated purpose.

Participants at Relay For Life events around the country light luminaries and keep a vigilant all-night walk in memory of those lost to cancer and in honor of those who survive it; while, raising funds so that one day cancer will be eliminated.

"Relay For Life is not a corporate-driven event, it's $212 million worth of snow cones, hot dogs, bake sales, and car washes. People work 365 days a year for this," said Myra Bowen, ACS manager of communication and media relations, Relay For Life Celebration on the Hill.

There are 3,300 Relays; half of them are less than five years old, with half a million survivors and 2.5 million people participating in one year.

The bus is the star attraction at many Relays and state capitols, and each ACS regional division plans its own bus agenda that is unique to that area. The bus stops at hospitals, schools, shopping malls, and historical sites — anywhere volunteers want the bus to appear. Several thousand may be in attendance, or one.

In a national kickoff on March 6, the bus launched from CNN with the first official signature from news anchor Paula Zahn, whose mother has breast cancer. The next day it was on to a crowded street in Harlem near the Apollo Theater, where the diverse community signed while being encouraged to prevent cancer by getting screened.

Among many stops in four days, the bus went to the Albany capitol building, an outlet mall in the Hudson River Valley, and a pediatric cancer treatment facility in Voorhees, N.J. More than 150 children and their families signed. The bus will go back to upstate New York in September.

At first the signatures were huge, then got smaller and smaller, swirling around windows, above door handles, along the trim. People stood on shoulders to find a spot, until nearly 10,000 signatures and messages filled the rolling canvas. It then became time for a second wrapping, and a third. The panels were carefully taken off and preserved on boards, ready for display in September.

In the mid-Atlantic region, the bus was effective during legislative sessions. In Dover, Del., the bus came to help support Senate Bill 99 (Clean Indoor Air bill), which passed. In Maryland it was present at the fight for a cigarette tax increase of 34 cents, which won. In three mid-Atlantic states, three governors signed: Gov. Ruth Ann Minner of Delaware (and Lt. Gov. John Carney); Gov. Parris Glendening of Maryland, who has melanoma; and, Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia, who issued a Colorectal Cancer Day proclamation.

The emotional high in this region was the bus taking part in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Ocean City, Md. Hundreds applauded, cheered, and waved as the bus rolled 20 blocks up main street. People cried as nearly 350 signed and also purchased daffodils to support Daffodil Days. Among those who signed was a policeman on horseback and a parent who had lost his three-year-old to cancer. The bus even won a trophy for the best non-commercial float in the parade.

In a blur of 109 planned events in the Carolinas and Georgia, there were also memorable impromptu happenings that symbolized the "Purple Power" of the bus.

The bus was the featured guest on the WLOS-TV morning show in Asheville, N.C. Many saw the bus during that hour and for the next three days people showed up at various planned events. However, one woman in Lavonia, Ga., learned that the bus was passing through her town, and asked if they could stop by Hardees, where she worked.

"I'm a cancer survivor and I want to sign the bus," she said. They stopped for 12 minutes so she could make this connection.

"It was very powerful," said John Daniel, ACS vice-president of government relations, southeast region. "Her colleagues watched from the windows. You could see their hands were clasped, so they felt the emotion and how important this was."

Just a few miles down the street, an elementary school had its entire 300-student body sitting out in front along the curb, with their teachers standing. The whole school was waiting for the bus to go by. The principal and a teacher, who is a cancer survivor, signed the bus on behalf of the school and the students.

In the Southeast, 19,000 have signed the bus — 3,100 signed at the Gwinnett County Relay in Georgia, the most at any one event. But holding the speed record is 936 signatures in three hours in the rain at an adventure park in Valdosta, Ga.

Now traveling through Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the bus will be in Houston on May 31 and will make its way north through the Mid-west in June.

In Alabama, the bus stopped at the Poarch Creek Indian Reservation at Atmore, Ala. Eddie Tullis, the tribal chairman, thanked ACS for the fight against cancer. A tribal member spoke about her surviving breast cancer. In Tennessee, the bus took a few laps around the Bristol Motor Speedway and a wedding couple, the bride with a cap on top of her veil, signed the bus.

Frank Schumaker is the one constant of the bus, the one who will guide its entire journey through 40 states back to Washington, D.C. His days can be long, from 6 a.m. to midnight. A bus driver by trade, his father died of colon cancer in 1984, so he knows what people are feeling. Schumaker delights in the emotion and the energy, how people are always so excited to see the bus arrive, and so moved when they sign.

Indeed, several times Schumaker has noted someone recognize a signature from another state: a Floridian saw a Carolina cousin's message; a Tennesseean saw her Alabama sister's note; an Atlantan spotted a signature from a man he served with in the military 30 years ago.

With nearly four months left, people are encouraged to come out and sign the bus with a message of hope or remembrance to send to Washington, D.C. More than 6,000 are expected to attend the Celebration on the Hill on Sept 19.

Rallying around the bus and the Celebration is a way to be touched, moved, and inspired by what small communities across America can achieve by joining together in the fight against cancer.