Some local Beeler Elementary School students lent a helping hand to the Alicia Rose “Victorious” Foundation late last month as is held a local Bandana Day fund-raising event at the school.
Beeler Elementary School recently hosted a Bandana Day Sale and event to raise funds for the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation. The elementary students sold bandanas to friends, parents, and relatives to help raise money for the worthwhile local profit out of Voorhees Township.
The Student Council organized this event with the help of their moderator and teacher Gerri Boyle. The school not only raised $900 to help support teens with cancer but also helped raise awareness of the journey of these critically ill teens by donning bandanas themselves as a show of support, said Maria Chalmers, business administrator for the Alicia Rose Foundation.
The Alicia Rose “Victorious” Foundation is a group dedicated to improving the lives of local teenagers in hospitals that are struggling with life threatening illnesses.
The foundation installs teen lounges in pediatric hospitals as a refuge for teens undergoing treatment for their illnesses.
Gisele Dinatale’s daughter, Alicia Rose, was diagnosed with cancer in September of 2001 and passed away 10 months later in October of 2002.
She spent the majority of her time in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, but she and her mother both realized the hospital didn’t have much social programming developed for teenagers.
The first lounge was developed and built at CHOP in 2003, DiNatale said, and the next year four more lounges were built. Now, the Alicia Rose “Victorious” Foundation has built 51 lounges across the country, eight lounges of which are here in New Jersey.
The lounges usually contain video game consoles, televisions, movies, and generally provide common areas for teens to meet with family and friends during their stays.
To learn more about the event and the foundation, please visit the Web site at www.Victoriousfoundation.org. Call 856–784–0615 for more information as well.
