Category Archives: Events

Haymarket AAU Bucket-A-Thon

On Dec 19th Alex’s brother Jacob and his basketball team, the AAU Haymarket Kings, hosted a Bucket-A-Thon for Kids Fundraiser benefiting Alex’s Army!

The team, led by Coach Schwemer and Coach Sheetz in 1 night raised $5,208 to help fight childhood cancer by doing something they love – making buckets!

Congrats to the following prize winners who won training sessions generously donated by Evolution Basketball (Gainesville)
Top Fundraisers

1. Bryce S.
2. Jacob G.
3. Matthew B.

And shout-out to Jayden C. who was the King of the Court last night with 19/20 buckets made!

Thank you so much to each of these boys for your commitment to make a difference in the fight against childhood cancer!

Special thank you to Evolution Training (Gainesville), Smoothie King and Chick-fil-A Haymarket / Chick-fil-A Virginia Gateway for sponsoring the teams event! Thank you also to team photographer Mike Barber for capturing pics of the event!

Happy Birthday Niko

December 5th we got to participate in a wonderful celebration for one of our favorite kiddos, Niko! Niko was not only celebrating finishing 3 years of Leukemia treatment, but he also was celebrating his 9th Birthday! Hosted by the amazing staff at Haymarket Elementary School we joined forces with many groups in our community to come together to shower Niko and his family with some Alex’s Army love thank you to all who joined us for what turned out to be a beautiful day in many ways!

Special thanks to our friends at Gainesville Grizzlies, Gainesville Dance Center-“GDC”, Haymarket Police Department, Officer Scott Ash and the Prince William County Police Department, Haymarket Fire Department and lots of our army who joined us for this special parade!

Lastly, thank you also to our friends Hollie, Raishad, and our new friend Scott Sikes at scottsikesphotography for capturing this beautiful day!

Niko, Karla, Juan, and Zoe – you all are so loved and all of us at Alex’s Army wishes you endless years to come of health, happiness, and LOVE!

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Celebrating an end of treatment

Last weekend, Alex’s Army had the honor of helping to plan an End of Treatment Celebration (social distance style) for a special young man and his family. With the help of MANY amazing people in the community, Quinn & his family were showered with an unforgettable day!

Thanks to the help of our friends at Team Mathias and the wonderful people over at Ashburn Volunteer Fire Rescue Department – the awesome siren and horn welcomed Quinn and his family as they arrived and made their way around the parking lot which was filled with Team Quinn Gorman friends, family, childhood cancer non-profits like Team Mathias, Stillbrave, Ellie’s Hats, and several other childhood cancer families who all were there in support and to shower the Gorman family with LOVE!!!

Thanks to the wonderful people with the The 501st Legion, Quinn – who mom Nikki says is a Mandalorian fan – was welcomed also by none other than Chewbacca, the Imperial Guard, & Mandalorian! Not only that, but a few other awesome storm troopers stopped by Quinn’s home to pose in front of his End of Treatment sign his family had and left him a book to let Quinn know they were there!

Quinn got to meet his Principal, his Dean, and a few other staff in person for the first time since school has been virtual. The staff at Belmont Ridge Middle School were so wonderful in coordinating the location for the celebration on such short notice and helped with balloons, music, and the bullhorn (which came in handy being so spread out although we definitely needed practice in using one – should have had Tom take the reigns on that one!)

The day was made even more memorable by our friends, the self-proclaimed “Glory Hounds” who made a surprise appearance and decorated the clear blue skies over Quinn and his family! There were tears and applause throughout the entire group as a heart was made complete through the talents of local Leesburg area pilots Jim and Mark who not only made a heart, but a smiley face, and finished with a few low-flying passes over the group to help make Quinn’s day extra special! A special Alex’s Army shout-out to the Potomac Tracon and Leesburg Executive Airport Tower staff who worked quickly together to get Jim and Mark airborne once they heard the purpose behind the two flights departing for Quinn’s celebration. Mark shared that there were some delays due to heavy air traffic in the area but the moment he shared with the controllers what their flight mission was everyone came together quickly to help make it happen!

Finally, when the Gorman family arrived home there were a few more surprises in store like a moon bounce for Quinn & his sisters to enjoy with the help of our friends at AMUSEMENT OF BOUNCERS as well as a few small gifts from Alex’s Army to keep the celebration going!Days like these are so incredibly special. I don’t think there are many things more special than getting to witness a child and their family who you’ve watched go through some incredibly tough things, finally get to celebrate finishing treatment! The Gorman family is one of the sweetest families you could have the pleasure of meeting and Quinn’s kind smile despite being in the hospital always touched our hearts. Thank you Nikki and Gorman family for allowing us to help in this celebration of Quinn’s End of Treatment! Thank you to all of Team Quinn Gorman who showed up and showered this sweet boy with a welcome home and celebration that he will never forget.

Alex’s Army please keep Quinn and his family in your prayers for continued healing, good health, and to remain cancer-free forever!

Quinn and Gorman family – you are loved!

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The town of Haymarket has gone GOLD!

On September 1st, Alex’s Army was able to hang gold ribbons through our town of Haymarket in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month!

This event has become one of our favorites in that it truly is such a special thing to be a part of. We hang the ribbons each year not only to raise awareness, but also as a symbol of our love for all of the families whose lives are forever impacted by a childhood cancer diagnosis. We hang these gold ribbons to stand united with families walking this difficult path so they know they are not alone in their fight and that ours is a community that cares.

Special thank you to the Haymarket Town Hall for allowing us to paint the town gold for the 3rd year in a row, to Photography By Trisha for capturing the event, to The Cake Runner for the delicious limoncello macaroons for our volunteers (stay tuned for a sweet deal in how you can snag some for childhood cancer awareness month and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Alex’s Army!), to all of our families and volunteers who came out to help us once again paint the town GOLD!

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Hearts Of Gold Gala 2019

We are so incredibly excited to share with you all that our first ever Hearts of Gold Gala raised a whopping $68,737.46 (and counting)!!!! We well exceeded our $50k goal and all in all we are over the moon with your generosity, love, & your support of our foundation and this first ever Gala event!!!

To say the evening was special is an incredible understatement. We feel so blessed by every moment and by each of you who joined us. Everything from our Honorary Family Patrick, Linda, and Matthew McDonnell sharing their connection with the Green family, what the REST trial has meant to their family, and presenting a check from their foundation Matthews Hope 4 Miracles to Dr. Dome to help contribute to the financial support for this trial to continue for other kids, to the live auction bidding with professional auctioneer HL Wenger and finishing off the evening with your incredibly generous paddle raise donations!

We had a wonderful time and hope each of you who joined us did as well!!

A huge Congratulations to each of our Hearts of Gold Volunteer Award Recipients who took home awards Saturday evening. We thank you for your service, support, and love that you have each poured into making Alex’s Army what it is: Franz Ferstl, Kristi Catlett, Stacia Rowles, Hollie Farrish Piraino, and Raishad Peoples.

Thank you to Dr. Jeffrey Dome, MD PhD, for attending our event and for sharing with our attendees remarks about the REST Immunotherapy Trial at Childrens National that Alex’s Army has helped fund the last 2 years (not including our 2019 grant).

Thank you again to our event sponsors – Heart of Love Sponsors: Advantage Air Conditioning of Virginia, The Dunham Family, Janet Hroncich & Joanne Arehart, Simply Divine Decorating & Staging, Thrivent Financial Dulles Group – David Stach & Martin Cox; to our Heart of Compassion Sponsors: FH Furr, Len & Elizabeth Forkas, and Smoots Custom Concrete; and to our Family Sponsors: A-Advantage Heating & Air, Amy Orne, Brett & Tawni Schwemer, FH Furr, Gary & Denise Rogerson, Gossom and Costello Paving, Padgett Business Products, Park Valley Church, and Trish Weinsten.

Thank you to our amazing planning committee, all of our volunteers, and our speakers for the evening! Thank you to Photography by Trisha for capturing moments from this event, to Kris Heeter for his construction of our gigantic Gold Heart for center stage and to Devin Hutcheson for his expertise on the painting and finishing touches for this masterpiece!

It truly does take an army to fight childhood cancer and we feel as though we have the best army around!

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Hearts of Gold Gala

Saturday November 16th 2019
Evergreen Country Club Ballroom
15900 Berkeley Drive, Haymarket, VA

Save the Date friends for our first ever Gala event celebrating 5 years of LOVE! We are so excited to celebrate as we look back on the first 5 years of Alex’s Army and fund raise the night away to help launch us into these next 5 years! Your ticket and/or sponsorship will include cocktails, passed hors d’oeuvres, a plated dinner, late night snacks & dessert, silent and live auction items, a program you won’t want to miss, music, dancing, & more! Our Hearts of Gold Gala will only come around once every 5 years and we do not want you to miss out!

Registration has closed: Gala Site

Save the Date: Hearts of Gold Gala 2019

Saturday November 16th 2019
Evergreen Country Club Ballroom
15900 Berkeley Drive, Haymarket, VA

Save the Date friends for our first ever Gala event celebrating 5 years of LOVE! We are so excited to celebrate as we look back on the first 5 years of Alex’s Army and fund raise the night away to help launch us into these next 5 years! Your ticket and/or sponsorship will include cocktails, passed hors d’oeuvres, a plated dinner, late night snacks & dessert, silent and live auction items, a program you won’t want to miss, music, dancing, & more! Our Hearts of Gold Gala will only come around once every 5 years and we do not want you to miss out!

Online Tickets will be going on sale soon!

We are currently looking for businesses/individuals who would like to be one of our sponsors for this Inaugural event. We also are seeking out in-kind donations for our silent auction, live auction, and wine grab. For information on how you can sponsor or support this inaugural event, contact us.

Sponsor Packet