It’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month & Alex’s Army is going GOLD!!!
As our good friends with Team Mathias do in the Town of Leesburg VA year after year, we have once again for the 4th year in a row decorated our Town of Haymarket with Gold bows up and down Washington street. We were honored to have our Town of Haymarket Mayor Ken Luersen and Town Councilman Joe Pasanello join us!
This year thanks to the support of our friends at Grizzly Sports Complex, while we weren’t able to hold our Annual Alex’s Army Bowl Games (stay tuned til next year!) we were able to turn the sports complex Gold as well!
This tradition 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.
Be sure to check back on our website for more pictures of tonight’s ribbon hanging!
Special thank you to the Haymarket Town Hall for allowing us to do this each year and by supporting us even more by joining us in our efforts! Thank you to Photography By Trisha for capturing the Haymarket team and to Hollie Farrish Piraino for capturing the Grizzly team.
A super big THANK YOU to our sweet friend Nicole at Salsa Sweets for donating the delicious gold ribbon cookies for our volunteers and some of our families we were delivering gifts to this week. And thank you as always to all of our families and volunteers who came out to help us once again paint the town GOLD!
There are lots of things going on in September for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. More kids than you would want to believe in your community and all over our country are impacted by childhood cancers. Get involved and join us in raising awareness this month and all year long!
Thank you so much to everyone who made our 6th Annual Driving for a Cure Golf Tournament a huge success! While the temps were hot, our golfers, volunteers, and sponsors were as amazing as always and contributed to another fun day of golf!
Together we raised a whopping $36,486.83 towards our mission!!!
We’d like to once again thank our Tournament Sponsor Thrivent Financial Dulles Group for their support and incredible generosity in sponsoring our event. From handing out extra waters/snacks on the turn to raffling off their own Yeti cooler to raise additional funds – each year they have been a proud supporter and we are grateful for Marty, Dave, Kim & group!
Thank you to all of our Sponsors: Brilliant Remodeling / Mosaic, Branscome Paving Company, A1 FloodTech, Brown & Brown Insurance, Cardinal Business Products, Chick-fil-A, Dewberry, EastCoast Insulators, Ennis Electric, FVC Bank, GD Flight Ops, General Dynamics, Greco Masonry, Haymarket Kings Basketball Team, Invisible Fence Brand by Clark Associates, Jennifer Young Homes, One Hot Mess, Park Valley Church, Patriot Auto Glass, Primis, R&S Services, RHOLC, Superior Paving, & The Thomey Family.
Thank you to our friend Niko’s dad Juan for joining us and sharing their families story with all of us. We know Juan touched many hearts and what he did isn’t always easy to do. Please keep the entire Chavarriaga family in your thoughts and prayers as we know too well that a cancer diagnosis is life-changing, we pray for Niko’s continued good health and healing from all he & his family have been through over the last few years.
Thank you to all of our in-kind donors who helped contribute toward auction and raffle items, our awesome team of volunteers, all our participants, and of course to the staff and team at Piedmont Golf Club. Each of you contribute to the success of this event year after year, and we are so grateful.
And a big Thank You once again to our Golf Tournament Director Franz Ferstl for 6 years’ of awesome events! We wish you, Leslie, & your family all the best in the next chapter of your lives together!
Congratulations to the following teams for placing in this years event: 1st Place Bryce Corbett, Tate Corbett, Gavin Furlong, Austin Nevins
2nd Place Todd Keener, Tony Gourley, Steve Hardt, Tim Juran
3rd Place David Branscome Jr., Thomas Whitsman, Josh Baird, Cody Reeves
And of course to the recipients of our first ever Hackers Award: Steve Bloom, Ernest Bush, Charlie Patten, Chris Pool
Congrats to our contest winners: Longest Drive Ladies – Beth Foster Mens – Bryce Corbett
Closest to the Pin Nick Yates
Closest to the Pin Jason Brunetti
We hope you enjoy the pictures from this event – shout out to Raishad & Hollie along with a few of you who tagged us in your own pics on social media!
Today, April 8, 2021, Alex’s Army is proud to announce the
winners of our Green & Gold Athletic Spirit Scholarship in loving memory of
two incredible athletes, George Mason University All-American center fielder
Nakoma Sours (#3) and our own Alex Green (#41 / #52). These scholarships
recognize athletes whose lives were forever changed by a childhood cancer
diagnosis but who inspire those around them every step of the way through their
love for sport, their determination, strength, courage, and athletic spirit –
just as Alex and Nakoma did throughout their lives.
On our Alex’s 17th birthday, Alex’s Army is honored and incredibly proud to announce we have selected three (3) scholarship award winners for 2021. Alex’s Army will award scholarships totaling $4,800 to Samuel Becker, Justin Brown and Devin Hutcheson — three athletes whose lives were impacted by a childhood cancer diagnosis, but continue to mentor, inspire, and make a positive impact on the community around them.
About the Scholarship
Recipients:
Samuel Becker is a Senior at Sherwood High School. He was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in October 2013 when he was 10 years old.
Prior to his diagnosis, Sam was an avid soccer player that loved
the spirit of competition. After undergoing cancer treatments and suffering
through several serious complications, Sam was unable to compete in the same
way with his peers on the soccer field. Through over seven years of hospital
visits, recovery and physical therapy, Sam bonded with his family and friends by
watching hockey and cheering on the Washington Capitals but was missing the
opportunity to play sports. Soon he was introduced to the dynamic and
challenging sport of sled hockey, where he rekindled his competitive nature and
discovered a supportive community of fellow athletes.
Sam has developed into a leader on and off the ice and hopes to
continue competing in sled hockey as he goes on to college.
Justin
Brown is a Senior at Battlefield High School. Justin’s diagnosis of Craniopharyngioma
Brain Tumor came at the age of 2 in February 2005.
Justin’s passion for baseball began when he was adopted by the James Madison Baseball team through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. As a crafty sidearm pitcher, Justin played baseball for 15 seasons in the Gainesville Haymarket Baseball League. In addition, Justin has been a member of the Archery teams at Ronald Reagan Middle School and Battlefield High School, including being a part of State, National and World Championship archery teams.
Justin has suffered through many serious complications since his
cancer diagnosis, but has remained an inspiration to his family, friends, and
teammates.
Devin Hutcheson is a Freshman at Messiah University. Devin was diagnosed with Stage 3 T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma in December 2016 at the age of 16.
Devin played soccer for Battlefield High School his freshman year and was on the team the next three years but his on-field impact was limited due to ongoing effects of his treatments. However, he inspired his teammates by enduring many cold days on the sideline suffering from chemotherapy treatments to be there in support of his team.
Because Devin’s dream to play college
soccer was taken from him, he pursued another passion, art. Devin’s work has been featured in the
Piedmont Lifestyle Publication, “Spray Painting a Reimagined Life” and at the
Haymarket Medical Center Community Gallery.
Devin is a very talented up and coming
artist that is currently majoring in Studio Art with a concentration in two-dimensional
painting.
About the Scholarship
Through our Alex’s battle with cancer, we were always amazed at how he persevered with incredible determination, strength, and courage. From an early age Alex was motivated by competition and was a natural athlete in every sport he tried. Whether it was soccer, flag football, basketball, or t-ball (and he tried them all), he never ceased to amaze those around him at how natural of an athlete he was. After his paralysis at the age of 7, one of the first things he did when he arrived at the rehabilitation hospital was get in a sled to test out sled hockey. In rehab, he was introduced to adult rugby, lacrosse, sled hockey and wheelchair basketball – pretty much anything they could offer he wanted to do it but he had an undeniable passion for sled hockey and wheelchair basketball. He competed in National Tournaments and traveled with his teams to New York, Kentucky, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and several other neighboring states for competition. Often, sports were his motivation through treatment. Whether it was scheduling chemo treatments early so he could make basketball in the afternoon, or setting his alarm to do 20 pushups every day to keep in shape so he could compete – Alex had an incredible athletic spirit, a love for sports and his teammates which was evident to everyone who met him.
25 years ago, on September 30th, the George Mason
University women’s softball team tragically lost one of their players in a car
accident. Nakoma Dawn Sours also lived
her life with a passion for competition and an unbreakable will to push towards
excellence always striving to be the best on and off the field. She inspired others to be better and pushed
her teammates to excel. Nakoma achieved
many accolades as a GMU Patriot – to this day she holds the single season
record in runs scored and walks, she sits second in on-base percentage and 3rd
in slugging percentage. After only
playing 2 seasons at GMU, Nakoma is 4th in cumulative steals against
women who have competed all four years.
Nakoma was ranked amongst the Nation’s Top 5 all-time in steals and had
National honors in on-base percentage.
We announced the start of the Green & Gold Athletic
Spirit Scholarship in loving memory of Nakoma on the 25th
anniversary of her passing and Alex’s Army will continue awarding this
scholarship each year in remembrance of our Alex –on his birthday–whose passion
for sports and incredible determination inspired all those who knew him.
The scholarship recognizes athletes whose lives are forever changed by a childhood cancer diagnosis but who inspire those around them every step of the way through their love for sport, their determination, strength, courage, and athletic spirit.
Thank you to all who applied and congratulations again to our 2021 recipients. We will begin accepting applications for our 2022 Scholarships in February. Check back on this page for future announcements and for next years application guidelines.
Save the Date: Monday, June 7th Location: Piedmont Golf Club, Haymarket, VA More details including registration & sponsorship opportunities coming soon!
Thank you to all who sent in applications for our first ever Green & Gold Athletic Spirit Scholarship opportunities! Our first scholarship recipients will be awarded in April of this year.
On the last day of what has been a difficult year for us all – our hearts are beyond grateful to all of you who have continued to support our mission day in and day out.
We are honored and so humbled to announce that with this year’s contribution of $60,000 in continued support of the Phase II REST Immunotherapy Trial at Children’s National Hospital, Alex’s Army has to date provided a total of $500,000 in research funding since becoming a 501c3 in 2014!!!
While we certainly aim to do whatever we can to make a difference for families impacted by childhood cancers, we remain committed to funding research with the hope that each contribution will bring researchers closer to cures for our children.
We truly could not do any of this without the incredible generosity, love, and support from each of you who have come alongside us time and again.Together we can do more, we can be more, we can LOVE more, and we can give more. It takes an army to fight childhood cancer….thank you for being a part of Alex’s Army!
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!
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!
Check out our limited time online merch shop! Click on the SHOP tab in the menu bar above to see official Alex’s Army merch, stocking stuffers, and more!
