The Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation teams up with A.C. Moore to provide mobile Arts & Crafts Carts to children’s hospitals.
Teen Cancer Awareness Week was initiated by the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation (ARVF), to promote cancer awareness and understanding of the unique needs of teens that have the disease. ARVF was established in honor of Alicia Rose DiNatale of Voorhees Township, who died in October 2002 after a 13-month battle with cancer at the age of 17.
“With the recognition of Teen Cancer Awareness Week, New Jersey has created a precedence in identifying the unique needs that hospitalized teen’s experience,” said Gisele DiNatale, Co-Founder and Executive Director of ARVF. Cancer survivors, Child Life Specialists, and members of the ARVF Youth Leadership Council were consulted in the application for the Art Cart, as well as its contents. “The Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation is proud to have spear-headed this initiative so that the voice and concerns of these courageous teens can be now acknowledged. We are so appreciative for our long-standing relationship with A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts, and their commitment to hospitalized teens.”
Pepe Piperno, Owner & CEO of A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts, said “We are thrilled to launch this new mobile art cart program with our longtime partner, the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation.” Piperno continued to say “We are especially proud to launch the first cart in our hometown community of South Jersey. At A.C. Moore, we believe in our strong responsibility to crafting a better world, and that begins right here at home. It is our hope that the new art cart will bring smiles & fun to the patients of Virtua Hospital!”
“The Art Cart will help bring a sense of normalcy and fun to the hospital environment for our hospitalized teen patients at Virtua,” said Beth Van Buskirk, Manager of the Child Life Department at Virtua Hospital. “Whether in the Teen Room or at bedside in the many Pediatric Areas covered by Child Life, the Art Cart will provide diversion specifically catered to our teen population.”
ARVF and A.C. Moore look forward to launching additional Art Carts throughout the East Coast. The next is scheduled for Nemours/A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, DE. The Victorious 4 Teens mobile Art Cart program is provided by ARVF with the support of the A.C. Moore Foundation and the company’s “Crafting a Better World” initiative.
-
About Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation
Courage and Comfort for Hospitalized Teens.
Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation (ARVF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to bringing hope, excitement, and entertainment to teens that are battling cancer and other life-threatening illnesses while receiving hospital treatment. ARVF provides adolescent programs, and activities consistent with Alicia’s outlook on “making life good”. Since 2002, ARVF has successfully partnered with almost 100 children’s hospitals in 37 states throughout the country, funded 63 Teen Lounges and provided over 14,000 Teen Kits to critically-ill children. For more information about ARVF and to find out how you can help hospitalized teens, visit www.victoriousfoundation.org.
About A.C. Moore
Create more. Share more. Save more. ™
A.C. Moore is a specialty retailer offering a vast selection of arts, crafts and floral merchandise to a broad demographic of customers. The first A.C. Moore store opened in Moorestown, New Jersey in 1985, and has expanded to more than 135 stores. Stores are located in the Eastern United States from Maine to Florida.
A.C. Moore is devoted to being the first choice for product selection, value and service that inspires and fulfills unlimited creative possibilities. The assortment, convenience, service and pricing differentiate them from their competitors. The assortment of merchandise consists of more than 60,000 stock keeping units, or SKUs, with approximately 40,000 SKUs offered at each store at any one time. They also offer custom framing in the majority of their stores. In-store events and programs for children and adults provide hands-on arts and crafts experience and encourage the creativity of customers. For more information about A.C. Moore, visit http://www.acmoore.com/about.
Mac VanBuskirk, son of Beth VanBuskirk and member of the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation’s Youth Leadership Council, poses at the Voorhees Township A.C. Moore with the shopping spree receipt after helping pick out items to stock the Art Cart.
Completed stocked Art Cart ready for the teen patients at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees, NJ.
Pictured with the Art Cart is (from left to right): Gisele DiNatale - Executive Director and Co-Founder of ARVF, Megan DiTore - Virtua Child Life Specialist, Leslie Alexander – Virtua Child Life Specialist, Elena Piperno – A.C. Moore Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Beth Van Buskirk – Virtua Child Life Manager, Frank Remillard - A.C. Moore Executive Vice President of Store Operations, Josh – Virtua hospitalized teen patient.