Save the Date: Monday, June 7th Location: Piedmont Golf Club, Haymarket, VA More details including registration & sponsorship opportunities coming soon!
Save The Date: Golf is back in 2021
All posts by Raishad Peoples
Enrollment for 2021 Green & Gold Athletic Spirit Scholarship is now closed
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.
More about scholarship here.
$500K – Together We Can
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!
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
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!
Limited Time Online Merch Shop
Alex’s Army Holiday Gift Card Giveaway!
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!
The Future of Cancer Care at Children’s National Webinar
We invite you to listen to the below webinar featuring Alex’s Army Research Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Dome and Dr. Catherine Bollard as they discuss research advances at Children’s National with specific mention of the REST Immunotherapy trial Alex’s Army has helped fund the last several years.
The Future of Cancer Care at Children’s National Webinar from Children’s Hospital Foundation on Vimeo.
Alex’s Army announces Green & Gold Athletic Spirit Scholarship
Today, September 30th 2020, Alex’s Army is proud to announce the start 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). Nakoma and Alex continue to inspire our community and this scholarship will honor their shared love for athletics and competition.
While today marks the end of the nationally recognized Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Alex’s Army is honored and incredibly proud to announce the start of this new endeavor to make a difference in the lives of families and youth athletes impacted by a childhood cancer diagnosis.
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 chemotherapy 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.
Nakoma Dawn Sours, an American Indian from the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, 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. As a star player on the George Mason University women’s softball team, 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, as well as placing 2nd in on-base percentage and 3rd in slugging percentage. Despite playing only two seasons at GMU, Nakoma is 4th in school history in career stolen bases. Nakoma was ranked amongst the Nation’s Top 5 all-time in stolen bases and had National honors in on-base percentage.
We are announcing the launch of the annual Green & Gold Athletic Spirit Scholarship today in loving memory of Nakoma on the 25th anniversary of her passing in a tragic car accident. Alex’s Army will continue awarding this scholarship each year in remembrance of our Alex whose passion for sports and incredible determination inspired all those who knew him. The scholarship will recognize 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.
-More details will follow regarding scholarship application specifics