The annual event draws participants both young and young in spirit.

Southampton - This Memorial Day Weekend more than 500 families are expected to take part in "Kites for a Cure," a family kite fly benefit on Coopers Beach in Southampton. The event will be held on Saturday, May 23, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and is hosted by Uniting Against Lung Cancer, which raises awareness and funds for innovative lung cancer research around the country.

Last year approximately 1,000 people came together and raised over $80,000 while decorating and flying hundreds of kites over one of America's most beautiful beaches to combat lung cancer - the nation's No. 1 cancer killer.

"We're delighted to welcome the third annual "Kites for a Cure" benefit and celebration on our Village's beautiful beach. The event has really taken off, and it's a wonderful kick-off for the summer, bringing families together for the good cause of lung cancer research and a good time for everyone," said Village of Southampton Mayor Mark Epley. Epley is the Honorary Commodore of the event, and is personally familiar with lung cancer, having lost his father to the disease five years ago.

With each $25 donation, guests will receive a high-quality kite they can decorate themselves on site with pictures, names, wishes or loving messages to be sent into the sky on the afternoon's off-shore breezes. The money raised will support Uniting Against Lung Cancer's national lung cancer research grant program.

Uniting Against Lung Cancer (formerly Joan's Legacy) was founded in 2001 in memory of Joan Scarangello, a Southampton resident and non-smoker who lost her battle with lung cancer. In just seven years, the foundation has awarded $5 million in research grants to identify the causes, new treatments, and possible cures for the disease that will claim an estimated more than 160,000 lives in the U.S. this year.

Kites reflect personal messages from families members.

Lung cancer will kill more Americans this year than colon, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers combined, and more women than breast, uterine and ovarian cancers combined. Yet it receives less federal research funding per death than any of the other major cancers.

"Lung cancer is the nation's leading cancer killer, and we are committed to raising both awareness and funds to help find a cure for this deadly disease," said Susan C. Mantel, the foundation's executive director. "We are thrilled and proud to bring this third annual event - a kite fly that will fill the beach and the sky with hope and beauty - again to the families on Long Island."

Uniting Against Lung Cancer, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization headquartered in New York, has grown under the direction of Joan Scarangello's family and friends to become one of the leading sources of funding for lung cancer research in the country. Increasingly joined by like-minded organizations and families, Uniting Against Lung Cancer is recognized for spurring new and innovative research projects - ideas that wouldn't get off the ground without the seed funding Uniting Against Lung Cancer provides - the foundation has quickly become the venture capital source for important research into the disease.

For more information about Kites for a Cure, to reserve kites and RSVP to the event, or to learn more about the Foundation and lung cancer, call 212-627-5500 or visit the foundation's web site at www.UnitingAgainstLungCancer.org.