Still Fighting

Pat Vaughn

Teammate

It’s hard to believe that Floyd County’s SameFight.org charity is already one year old.  What began as a means to communicate has evolved into an organization for hope.  Since the website launch in early January 2007, more than 90 official events have been held, raising more than $150,000.  The community, friends, family and total strangers have rallied together to raise awareness and funds to support those families in need.   SameFight has one mission, “It is our goal to provide not only financial, but also emotional and spiritual support. Dollar for dollar your donations will be used by these children's families for their medical and family expenses.”  SameFight.org is an organization setup to assist families of children in the Floyd, Virginia community fighting cancer.  The qualifications are simple.  1.  Child must be a resident of Floyd County, Virginia.  2.  Child must be 17 years or younger.  And 3. Child must be fighting some form of cancer.   

The costs to families during and after a cancer fight are astronomical.  Not only do parents have to leave work, they often relocate their families to be near the treatment centers and have to financially support two households.  Medical expenses are often covered by insurance, but there are many treatments and expenses that are outside the coverage and families must pay those costs out of pocket.   These costs are what SameFight can assist in support.  We are totally volunteer and non-profit.  That allows us to keep overhead down to nearly zero so that all funds raised are used to support families in need.  If you, or someone you know, may need assistance during a cancer fight, please contact us at www.samefight.org.

Annual events are being scheduled for 2008, including the 2^nd Annual SameFight.org Golf Tournament set for May 3^rd.  Another event being planned is the 2^nd Annual SameFight.org Benefit Concert for sometime in July.  It is sad to acknowledge, but we know that there will be another child who will need our support.  Please help us to be prepared when the need arises. If you have sponsored an event in the past, we ask that you consider holding that event again in 2008.  We need your support! Many of our events in 2007 were quite successful with donations ranging from $300 to $30,000.  Every dollar counts.  To submit an event, please go to our website at www.samefight.org or email us at events@samefight.org to begin.  We can provide advertisement on our website and can even help you design your brochure.

Thank you for your support in 2007 and in advance for 2008.

Great Success
Brian Harman
Chance's Dad

We are pleased to announce that the First Annual Chance Harman Classic raised $10,721.77.  

The Chance Harman Classic was a huge success; we are hoping for bigger and better next year.  Hopefully the weather will be a little better next year.   As of right now the plan is to give a scholarship in Chance’s name to a student at Floyd County High School in the amount of $3,000 dollars.  Any student that has played a sport at Floyd County High School and has participated in Fellowship of Christian Athletes will be eligible for the scholarship.  All they have to do is pick up the application at the guidance office and fill it out then a Board will decide on the recipitant.  If something happens and we have two qualified students we may end up dividing the scholarship and giving $1,500 dollars to each.  We will also be sending Giles County High School, Radford High School, and Glenvar High School $1,500 dollars for a scholarship in memory of Chance at their school.  What is left over will go the The American Cancer Society in the department of pediatric brain cancer, that should be somewhere around $5,000.00 dollars.   Our family has been invited to attend Radford High Schools awards ceremony when the scholarship will be presented. 

The games were four very good games to watch.  One of the coolest things of the Classic was when Giles came out to warm up they had Chance’s name on the back of their shoes, then Graham came out, followed by all of the other teams.  Coach Rick Cormany from Radford said he wanted to come up with something special so he got with a company in Roanoke Dixie Sporting Goods and they donated the name tags for the tournament.  It was a really neat idea and meant a lot to me that the coaches and kids showed the respect to wear them that day.  Most every team warmed up with their Classic T-Shirts on and Giles’s coaching staff wore them during the game.  All of these things are small ideas and small things, but to me they meant more than those guys will ever know.  The first on matched up Graham and Giles, in that Graham beat Giles in overtime.  The second game Glenvar got a big win against Christiansburg with a single digit victory.  The third game had Blacksburg, one of the best teams in Double AA in the state playing Radford, one of the best single A teams in this area.  This was a very good game, two teams that really went after it, with Blacksburg pulling away at the end.  The last game was Patrick County and us, where it was close till about 4 minutes to go and Patrick pulling away for the win.