Community

Outreach

The SlyeStrong #6 Foundation is continually seeking ways to provide support for our community; a direct reflection of the support the Slye family received.  The foundation’s goals are to meet immediate community needs to alleviate hardship and promote a positive outlook, provide comfort to those living with cancer, establish and maintain relationships with all supporters including families, schools, churches, and organizations.

Local Book Drive

Over 20,000 Books and Supplies Donated!

Each year The SlyeStrong#6 Foundation book drive collects new and gently used infant and children’s books, word and puzzle books, coloring books, crayons and bubbles (for respiratory therapy).

Some of the facilities we donate to are:

  • Mary Washington and Stafford Hospitals
  • Rappahannock Community Service Board Healthy Family Program
  • Children’s Hospital of Richmond
  • Stafford County Public Schools ROSE Project 
  • Stafford County Head Start
  • UVA Child Life Program

These wonderful donations help to give members of our community something to smile about in the face of hardship and trauma.

Our next book drive will be held January 16 – January 26 2024. 

Drop Off Locations

Supporting Local Cancer Patients

Gift Cards

Through the generous support of our community, we have been able to donate $7,000 in Wawa and Walmart gift cards to Mary Washington Regional Cancer Center and Hematology and Oncology Associates of Fredericksburg to hand to their patients. These gift cards are given to their oncology patients to assist them with transportation costs, medicine, or other medical needs. The Regional Cancer Center was instrumental in allowing AJ to briefly return to Stafford to spend some time at home while he was undergoing his treatments.

These small tokens provide a sense of relief and support for these patients and their families!

ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation

The SlyeStrong#6 Foundation has been able to help our friends at ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation by providing them with $12,000 for their Family Assistance Fund, specifically for Fredericksburg Area families needing assistance with travel expenses for treatment. We also have donated another $3,000 to support their annual patient and family holiday party.   Additionally, we were able to provide $2,000 for patients to participate in their Workhouse Field Trip. (Their thank you letter is below). 

ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation has been serving children with cancer and their families here in Central Virginia since 1975. Today they are the area’s oldest and largest provider of support services for patients, survivors and their families. For their active patients they provide financial assistance (including gas and grocery cards) as well as emotional support by funding the clinic’s child life specialist, chaplain and psychologist. They also provide educational support for all ages and opportunities for community and connection through their social events.”

Donated $2,000 to

ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation

Read their thank you letter below

 

Hello Ms. Slye:

Alma Morgan and I are forever grateful for the donation you submitted to support and fund our long-awaited field trip to the Wilson Workforce Center on September 30th. You may be aware that the trip was originally scheduled for March 24, 2020. Due to statewide mandatory shutdowns, the trip was postponed, and we were not able to reschedule it until May of this year. Eight people confirmed for the trip; however, four attended with a parent. With your generous gift, we were able to secure a twenty-eight passenger mini bus with an experienced driver to transport us and adhere to social distancing requirements. We stopped for lunch where the students and their parents continued to fellowship which proved to be an integral part of the trip. After lunch, we arrived at Wilson Workforce Center and were greeted by three exceptional tour guides. All were extremely impressed with the Center’s array of vocational trade stations, its classrooms, the dormitories, the cafeteria, and its beauty. Our questions were answered, and any concerns we had were addressed. The students who attended would like to attend the Workforce Center in the future to study welding, cosmetology, technology, and child care. They also agreed to participate in a three to five day evaluation. To date, all who attended have submitted applications with the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) and have been assigned case managers where it is understood that attending Wilson Workforce Center is priority.

We thank you again for your generosity and support of our young adults. A picture of most of us is attached.

Sincerely,

Michelle J.
Launch Project Coordinator
ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation

 

Additional Community Support

A Big ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who has helped support the SlyeStrong#6 Foundation’s fundraising efforts. Because of your support we have been able to provide monetary donations throughout the community. Examples include:

  • $3,500 to University of Virginia Hospital Hospitality House
  • $1,000 to Mary Washington Hospital Foundation for COVID relief for hospital staff
  • $2,000 to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond
  • $500 to Be The Match
  • $500 to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital
  • $1,200 in scholarships for Camp WinShape

Coloring with Sentara

The SlyeStrong#6 Foundation connected with Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (SNVMC) in Woodbridge to see how we could help them and their cancer patients. We were able to provide assistance by donating $350 worth of colored pencils, puzzle books, coloring books & reading books to the oncology patients at SNVMC. These items will help entertain patients in the outpatient infusion center and the oncology unit while undergoing treatment. We look forward to being able to continue to help meet the needs of their cancer patients.

Pillow Donations

Part of our mission is to find a need in the community and to fill it. The Out-Patient Infusion Center at Mary Washington Healthcare Regional Cancer Center asked if we could find small pillows to provide comfort to the patients who are sitting for hours while receiving their treatment.

We have been able to donate 12- soft, travel- size pillows which were the perfect size! A big shout-out to Stafford Media for donating the embroidery for the pillow cases!

Blankets For Warmth

The SlyeStrong#6 Foundation has previously partnered with the students from North Stafford High School Learn and Serve and HOSA to make blankets for local hospitals. The foundation purchased the materials and the students made 52 tied fleece blankets of various sizes, patterns, and colors. We delivered 24 blankets to the Children’s Hospital of Richmond and 28 Blankets to Mary Washington Hospital Foundation to be given to patients who need them.

A patient’s stay in the hospital often is cold and lonely. Our hope is that these blankets will provide the patients and their caregivers a snuggly warm feeling of being loved!

Baskets of Love

There are MANY amazing charities today that are doing truly wonderful things and helping those in need. The SlyeStrong#6 Foundation loves partnering with different ones to help raise awareness, give back, and keep the momentum going.

One Easter we contacted the Fairy Godmother Project about providing “Baskets of Love” to 6 of their pediatric cancer families. The Fairy Godmother Project had created a new division within their charity called the Bereavement Group of 7 local families who, unfortunately, have lost a child due to cancer.

Unfortunately most of these families get left behind. When their child first gets diagnosed and continues through treatment, the community tends to rally support. But after a loss of a child, the support begins to wane then eventually stops, not because of cruelty, but because many people don’t know what to say or do. However, many times the families just want to talk about the one that just passed, want others around, want to know their child has not been forgotten.  The Slye’s know this first hand all too well.

The SlyeStrong#6 Board set out to the stores with lists of different things each family liked. Some families were about to go on vacation so their baskets were filled with fun activities to do while, other families try to spend as much time outdoors with each other. Each basket had items that were specifically picked out for each family member. Some even had gift cards to grocery stores for a nice Easter meal, or visa gift cards to help with financial needs.

Just because a cancer fight may have ended does not mean the wounds are healed. Putting a smile on a family’s face, even for a short time, lets them know they have not been forgotten…they are not alone. To be able to share brings our hearts such joy. We are here to take care of and walk with each other.

Technology to Help

Through the generosity of our community, family and friends, we have been able to donate 12-Amazon Fire Tablets with headphones, protective cases, and docking stations as well as 2- DVD players to local outpatient infusion clinics. These clinics are where patients go to receive outpatient chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and/or other types of infused medications while receiving outpatient care. A patient’s visit to these types of centers often will require them to sit for long periods of time while receiving their treatment. AJ and Laura endured many, many long hours of sitting at centers just as these. Our hope is that these tablets and DVD players will provide the patients and their caregivers with an opportunity to watch movies, read books, play games or just search the web.

We donated 4 tablets and a DVD player to the OutPatient Infusion Center at Mary Washington Healthcare Regional Cancer Center, 4 tablets and a DVD player to the OutPatient Infusion Services at Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center and 4 tablets to Children’s National Health System-Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders of Northern Virginia.

Selfless Selfie

Joey had asked everyone to do a simple act of kindness in AJ’s memory and the memory of other cancer victims and fighters. Then write it down, take a selfie of it, and publish it to social media on February 27th (AJ’s Angel-versray).

For 2 years we had an incredible and inspiring turn out for ​AJ’s Angel-versary Selfless Selfie campaign. By the beautiful mosaic we can take pride in the fact that your selflessness impacted someone’s life that day, for that instant, and maybe carried over to or reached to an unmeasurable level. What a powerful message of love and compassion everyone showed and whether you were honoring AJ or another loved one lost to cancer, a special “Thanks” to all who participated and shared. 

Individual photos can be found in our Facebook Album.

Spirit of the Holidays

For many of us, the holidays are a joyous time sharing food and gifts with family and friends.  However, many in our local community are not as fortunate. So in the spirit of the holidays and our desire to give back to our community, the SlyeStrong#6 Foundation teamed up with the Department of Social Services and North Stafford High School Student Leadership to help provide for families for the holidays. For Thanksgiving, we were able to provide a family of 7 with a basket of food for their holiday meal. For Christmas, we were able to provide baskets for Christmas meals for two families (totaling of 11 people), as well as purchasing gifts for 4 children and their mother to open on Christmas morning.
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