All posts by Raishad Peoples

Green & Gold Athletic Spirit Scholarship

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

Events, Photo Gallery

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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Uncategorized

We Miss You Alex

Wed April 8th our Alex would be turning 16 years old. Its emotional thinking about all the things he would be doing now if he were still here. The biggest right of passage for many 16 year olds of course is driving…he would have absolutely hands down loved that! Tomorrow we will be celebrating our sweet strong boy as a family, we will be sending out some gifts to a few of our PWC families, but we thought of a few ideas that you could also do to help celebrate Alex’s 16th birthday with us!

*Donate 1 item from our Amazon wish list (link below). As some of you may already know, we haven’t been able to host our annual Kids Helping Kids Donation drive this year with all the schools and group closings. We usually hold this drive in March but were moving it to April as it is Alex’s bday month. We are super low on our toy stock and rely each year on the local groups who participate in our annual KHK donation drive to replenish for the upcoming year. **We DO NOT want anyone to go out shopping for items and have made it super simple to help. Click on the link below and choose 1 item to donate – our shipping address is already in there so your item chosen will come right to us. Link to our wishlist: https://smile.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/IR2QA8EQXZDA…

*Donate $16 on our website – any funds donated will be used for us to purchase toys/gifts to help restock our supply for the care packages we send to families and that are used during our hospital visits. Link to donate

*Get down and do 16 or 20 pushups in honor of our guy sweet strong guy! Tag us @alexsarmyccf or send us your pics/videos! #Twenty4Alex

We know these are difficult days…we love you all and are so thankful for Alex’s Army! Know that while sometimes life can be more than difficult, there is always hope and even in some of the darkest days you can always find God’s light shining through.

Alex we miss you more than words and hope that you’ll be smiling down on us tomorrow from Heaven. Happy 16th Birthday sweet boy!

Hearts of Gold Gala, Photo Gallery

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

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

Hearts of Gold Gala

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

Awareness Month 2019, Events, Photo Gallery

Alex’s Army Bowl 2019

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September 7th, 2019, marked our 4th Annual Alex’s Army Bowl Games at Grizzly Sports Complex and this year proved to be another awesome year. Four honorary local families joined us this year to help participate in the coin toss before the game which is always special not only for the families but for the team captains and referees who get to hear a little bit about our friends’ fight and to help raise awareness that childhood cancer is not rare.

This day is always special because it brings cheerleaders and football players from various leagues together for a much greater cause. It helps to increase compassion and understanding amongst our youth for their peers who are enduring incredibly tough battles everyday.

We love seeing the gold ribbons along the Football fields at Grizzly each year and know how much seeing GOLD means to the kids and families fighting.

Thank you to those who stopped by our tent to learn a little bit more about our mission and why we do what we do.

Thank you to our friends at Amusement of Bouncers for donating the Quarterback Football Toss and for providing the super cool football themed moon bounce.

Thank you to American Pride Youth Football, Gainesville Grizzlies, and to all the teams for GOING GOLD with us to help raise awareness during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and in honor of families whose lives are forever changed by a childhood cancer diagnosis.

***Join us in the fight against childhood cancers by making a tax-deductible donation today***

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date on more events and information.

Awareness Month 2019, Other Events

September Events

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Alex’s Army has several upcoming events that we would love for you and your family to be a part of! Read about each upcoming event below:

September 7th – Alex’s Army Bowl Games @ Grizzly Sports Complex
10600 Determination Road, Nokesville, VA | 9 AM – 6 PM

Alex’s Army Childhood Cancer Foundation is honored to partner once again with the Gainesville Grizzlies and American Pride Youth Football Leagues for the 4th Annual Alex’s Army Bowl Games! The goal of this event is to help kickoff Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, to raise awareness for childhood cancers, and to honor local families who have fought or are fighting various forms of childhood cancers.

Football players from both leagues, referees, and coaches wear gold ribbons, local children from the childhood cancer community are invited to participate in the coin toss, be honored by the teams before the game, and are showered with gifts from Alex’s Army and both youth football leagues.

We will have a moon bounce and Alex’s Army table set up with merchandise sales, information on upcoming events and how you can join our mission, and more! This year we also will be selling raffle tickets for drawings throughout the day so if you’re at Grizzly for scrimmages – be sure to stop by our table and see us!

Let us know you’re coming on our FB event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/609532322783910/?active_tab=about

September 9th – Haymarket Town Council Meeting & Childhood Cancer Awareness Month Proclamation @ Town Hall
15000 Washington Street #100, Haymarket, VA | 7 PM

Attention Town of Haymarket Residents & Western Prince William County families – We invite you to join Alex’s Army and the Town of Haymarket as the Town of Haymarket continues to Go Gold for Childhood Cancer Awareness and issues a special Proclamation for the Month of September! We encourage families to wear a Childhood Cancer Awareness shirt to this event. Alex’s Army will be handing out Gold Ribbons to all families who attend.

September 13th – Battlefield High School Childhood Cancer Awareness GOLD OUT football game vs. Potomac Falls
15000 Graduation Drive, Haymarket, VA | 7 PM

Join Alex’s Army at the Battlefield vs Potomac Falls Varsity Football Game for their first home game and GOLD OUT for Childhood Cancer Awareness! Alex’s Army is providing Gold Ribbons for Freshman, JV, and Varsity football players helmets to be worn at the game. We also will have a table on site so be sure to stop by and say hi!

September 20-22nd – CureFest Weekend Washington DC

Join Alex’s Army and over a hundred other Childhood Cancer foundations and advocacy groups for a weekend of awareness, togetherness, and love for families impacted by childhood cancers. This years’ event will feature a live performance by Daughtry Accoustic Trio Sunday, September 22nd! For more information visit www.curefestusa.org

Awareness Month 2019, Photo Gallery

Ribbons Are Up

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Ribbons are UP and Alex’s Army is proud to have been able to bring GOLD to our hometown of Haymarket again this year!

Sunday, September 1st volunteers, families, and friends of Alex’s Army helped come together to tie Gold Ribbons on the light posts that line the main street of town. These Gold Ribbons represent LOVE and HOPE for families fighting and aim to raise awareness during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month!

We started this last year inspired by our friends at Team Mathias who have been bringing Gold Ribbons to their hometown of Leesburg for several years. Its an honor to bring these Gold Ribbons now to Haymarket and we aim to reach other local Prince William County towns next year (watch out Gainesville, Manassas, Nokesville, and Warrenton)!

It’s an awesome feeling for us to be able to hang up and take down these ribbons but there were a few extra special things that happened this year that we wanted to share.

The first was while putting up ribbons crossed paths with a local Haymarket resident was walking along the sidewalk. She asked what our team was doing and when we told her she mentioned that she had a child who had fought cancer many years ago who is now a survivor and she was so happy to see the Gold Ribbons being put up! It’s a reminder that unfortunately childhood cancer is not as rare as people would like to think and there are no coincidences. What a God-ordained moment that she was taking a stroll at the very same time we were putting these ribbons up!

Second, this year we had several local families of both fighters and survivors sign up to join us which was beyond special. These ribbons are in honor and support of families like theirs and they chose to put their walking shoes on and join us in doing the work! We know they know firsthand what these gold ribbons represent and want to give each of them a shout-out to know just how loved they are!

Lastly, a special friend of Alex’s Army and of our Alex who fought her own battle with Breast Cancer a few years ago, also showed up with her daughter to help us hang our Gold Ribbons. This meant the world to us to have them there proudly rocking their Alex’s Army shirts and hanging ribbons with us. Our hearts go out to anyone and everyone who is touched by ANY type of cancer, a cancer diagnosis of any sort is heartbreaking and life-changing. We are thankful to our Army many who have friends and family also fighting their own battles yet who believe in our mission and see the importance to make a difference for these sweet kids and the families we serve.

Thank you to the Town of Haymarket for believing in our mission and allowing us to bring GOLD to Haymarket. Thank you to Chick-fil-A Haymarket for asking us to include Gold Ribbons on your posts as well and also to our friends at Cookies & Cream Haymarket for not only serving as our starting and finishing post but for also serving up some delicious ice cream, cookies, and bottled water for our group when we were done. Thank you also to Trish at Photography By Trisha and a few of our volunteers for capturing pictures from this event!

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month! Go Gold for Kids with Cancer!