Community Partners

Cheerleading Tournament Raises Funds for

Hospital Expansion

Cheer for Charity (CFC), a regional cheering tournament, raises funds for Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. Since its inception in 2006, the tournament has raised more than $140,000. This year’s event will support the reconstruction and expansion of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), completing a $100,000 four-year pledge. Cheer for Charity has made a new pledge of $150,000 over five years in support of the PICU, which cares for children with life-threatening conditions. 

More than 200 teams are expected to compete in this year’s event including All-Star, High-School, Recreational and CYM teams. The tournament will feature the Chairman’s Cup–awarded to the team that raises the most money on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, to become a sponsor, or to register, please contact Jeffrey Martino at info@cheerforcharity.net or follow the registration link.

Denni Ferrara, President/Founder of Leukemia Research Foundation of Delaware (LRFDE), recently presented a check for $75,000 to the Nemours Fund for Children’s Health in support of research conducted by oncologist E. Anders Kolb, MD, Director of the Nemours Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and the Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. “We are grateful for the Foundation’s ongoing support of Dr. Kolb’s research,” says Lori Counts, Managing Director of the Nemours Fund for Children’s Health.

LRFDE raises funds through its annual gala, which will be held in February of 2012, Frightland, a Halloween attraction in Middletown, DE and their popular Mud Run events—one for participants over the age of 14 and another for younger children. LRFDE was founded by Denni Ferrara in 2007 after her daughter Natalia, now 16 years old, survived high-risk acute lymphocytic leukemia. “Our dedication to providing continuous funding enables researchers to make vital discoveries that lead to a better understanding of blood cancers, their treatments, and the effects on the patient,” says Denni.

“These funds are incredibly important in supporting laboratory model research,” says Dr. Kolb. “We are able to test potential new drugs and find the most effective therapies for children with leukemia and other blood cancers.”

Dominic Osorio would have been so proud. Just ten months after her seven-year-old son passed away, his mother Nikki sponsored the 1^st Annual Dominator 5/10K Walk & Run in memory of Dominic to benefit the Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research. The event, held in the Baltimore suburbs, raised $15,000 in support of research to find the cause and cure for brain cancer.

Young Dominic, who died of a brain tumor at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a valiant struggle, was known to friends and family as the Dominator because of his love for superheroes. He coped with his radiation treatments by turning into the Dominator in order to defeat the “evil megazoid” in his head. Dominic inspired those around him with his courage and strength throughout his long illness.

Learn more about the D.O. Believe Foundation.

Our friends in the community share our passion for children’s health. For information about helping children through your organization’s gift, contact Marie Vacca at (302) 651-4416, or at mvacca@nemours.org.