After Alicia’s passing on October 10, 2002, her parents, Mario & Gisele DiNatale, decided they needed to do something to honor Alicia and other courageous teens like her. By December 2002, the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation (ARVF) officially began in the basement of Alicia’s home and a storage space, in Voorhees, NJ. In 2003, the first Teen Lounge was created at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Very quickly ARVF outgrew the tiny quarters in the basement and storage unit, so the headquarters moved to an office building in Gibbsboro, NJ. In August 2011, ARVF moved to its current location in the Voorhees Town Center, Voorhees, NJ where thousands of Teen Kits are assembled & Bandana Pillows sewed by volunteers.
Since inception, ARVF has raised over $2.5 million providing “Victorious 4 Teens” Teen Lounges, Enhancements, Activities, Art Carts, and Teen Kits & Bandana Pillows. Over 70,000 children throughout the country have been touched in some way by ARVF, and they are proud to be a part of the healing while waiting for the cure.