2009 Events
Diamond State Classic Girls HS Basketball Tournament
Again this year we paired B+ Heroes with basketball teams from across the country for the nationally recognized Diamond State Classic Girls High School Basketball Tournament held in Wilmington, DE, each December. The players brought gifts and team jerseys, and played games with their Heroes.
B+ Heroes were introduced with their teams and sat on their benches during the games. Organizers of the Diamond State Classic have been loyal supporters and donate part of theirproceeds to the B+ Foundation. Joe presented The Andrew McDonough B+ Award to the player who "demonstrates positive attitude, has fun, and inspires her teammates on and off the court."
Photos
3RD ANNUAL B+ FOUNDATION GOLF OUTING
In this economy, we didn't think we'd come near the 2008 total for attendees or amount raised. Thanks to our Golfers, Diners, Donors and Sponsors, we did, raising close to $50,000 for our Family Assistance Program.
October 15th was a chilly day at Brandywine Country Club in Wilmington, DE, but any day on the golf course is a good day. Jake Goorland and Jared Goldberg sold Mulligans and manned the putting contest. Who can resist kids?
The Lazy Eyed Blues Band entertained golfers and dinner guests as they browsed our terrific collection of auction items.
We were fortunate that the US National Soccer Team Players Assoc. and Major League Soccer provided signed balls and jerseys as auction prizes. Other exciting items included a Notre Dame VIP Football package, a suite for 16 at a Phillies game, a guitar signed by the Jonas Brothers, and a self-portrait of Bono.
Some of our local sponsors, who continue to support the B+ Foundation include: Horizon Services, Farley Printing, Paul Campanella Auto Center, Goorland Supply, Chase, and Barclay's.
Joey Borowski, a B+ Hero, and his mom, Theri, spoke eloquently of their journey and involvement with the B+ Foundation. They helped our guests understand why it's so important to continue the work of the B+ Foundation, supporting families with children in medical crisis.
Please plan to join us in 2010 for golf, dinner, wonderful auction packages and fund-raising for our worthy families.
View more photos in our gallery.
B+ Day on Concord Pike
To celebrate Andrew's birthday September 3rd, legions of B+ supporters donned their B+ Gear and joined together for fun and food at restaurants and stores along Concord Pike in Wilmington, DE. Friends, families and co-workers came out in force and lingered over good meals and good conversation with other folks they knew around the room. In some restaurants, even the staff wore B+ Gear.
Awareness of the event was aided by many B+ supporters who emailed their friends and co-workers and passed out flyers. The 4H group Flock of Friends distributed over 400 flyers the weekend before the event.
The B+ Foundation is truly a community organization and the stores and restaurants who supported us tonight are truly contributing to our community. Thank you to Season's Pizza, Five Below, Sweet Lucy's Ice Cream, Marini Produce, Grotto Pizza, and Johnnie's Dog House for donating 10-20% of today's sales to B+.
$250,000 B+ Grant to Fight Pediatric Cancer
The B+ Foundation awarded our first research grant for $250,000 to the Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research (NCCCR) to fund a High-Throughput Screening device, which will accelerate 
the drug-discovery process to develop new chemotherapy treatments and ultimately a cure for pediatric cancer. This robotic device reduces the time it takes to screen potential new cancer drugs from years -- to days. This article explains NCCCR's mission and the purpose of the HTS device. ABCTV Philadelphia covered the 
check ceremony at A.I.DuPont Hospital in June, and WHYY-TV aired a wonderful segment that you can watch.
From the Managing Director at Nemours, "Those who took care of Andrew have been profoundly impacted by his life. Even more significant is the number of people who never had the opportunity to know Andrew but feel a personal connection to his story and fully support your mission to one day achieve a 100% cure rate of childhood cancer."
The B+ Foundation arranged for Gov. Jack Markell (left) to tour the NCCCR in Wilmington, DE. You can read more about their efforts at the NCCCR website.They were recently featured in a Philadelphianewspaper article and Delaware newspaper
article.
3rd Annual B+ 5K Fighting Pediatric Cancer
With close to 1400 pre-registered participants and 350 walk-ups (who came out in the rain), our 3rd Annual B+ 5K became the largest 5K in Delaware! Over 1700 participants making up 54 teams 
helped us raise $80,000! About 15 of those teams were for B+ Heroes or in honor of friends we miss. Team Aryn raised the most money (over $8,000!) and Team SavannahStrong built the largest team (138 participants!). Yes, we had some rain, which makes it even more significant that we had so many join us. But the skies cleared just in time for the race to begin (thank you Andrew).
Congratulations to the top winners and to everyone who ran or walked the beautiful course around the Brandywine River. Afterwards, we enjoyed Johnnie's Hot Dogs, Grotto Pizza, fruits from Marini Produce, pretzels courtesy of the Tile Market, and drinks from Hy-Point Dairy and WaWa, all while wearing our bright blue B+ shirts courtesy of Horizon Services.
As we do every year, we recognized the true Heroes in the fight against cancer and called up the kids battling this disease to 
receive a B+ Hero medal from Mrs. Delaware, Marci McNair. This year we also recognized the unsung heroes who battle this disease as well -- the siblings. They also received B+ Hero medals. As has become our tradition, cancer survivors were called up to be recognized and received a warm round of applause. Missing this year was Andrew's uncle Dan, whose recent death from cancer caused by his chemotherapy treatment remind us of the progress that still needs to be made.
Special thanks to our organizers without 
whom this race would never happen: Cathy Gladnick, Dennis Walker, Denise Marini, Mike Monagle (Delaware Running Co.) and Jimmy Walsh (Delaware Sports Club), Rhonda Bowman and Bud Keegan, photographers.
Take a look at the great photos of the day.
ANDREW'S at the SOCCER HALL OF FAME
Andrew's name will be put on a brick and included in a memorial at the Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, NY. The US National Soccer Team Players Association has partnered with the B+ Foundation and has also honored Andrew on their website in a program called "Time In" that recognizes children who have battled leukemia. Visit the site and comment. Here's a photo of Andrew and Ali when we visited the Hall of Fame in 2000.
B+ AWARD GIVEN AT ST. MARY MAGDALEN
Andrew's primary school awarded the Andrew McDonough B+ Award to Paige Thommes, the 8th grade athlete who best exemplified the B+ spirit of sportsmanship, having fun, and using your talents.
Andrew McDonough Players Cup to
Yardley, PA Team
The U14 YMS Team won the FCDelco Tournament and the Andrew McDonough Players Cup trophy.
Univ. of DE UDance Dance Marathon Benefits B+
The Greek community at the University of Delaware came together for UDance -- 12 hours of music, dancing and fund-raising to benefit pediatric aids and the B+ Foundation. 1500 students from sororities and fraternities danced, played games, ate snacks, listened to music and watched entertainers. In addition to raising thousands of dollars for kids in need, many students signed up to be bone marrow donors.
Eight B+ Heroes were paired with fraternities and sororities, and 4 of our Heroes joined us at UDance. Strong bonds were formed and several of the Heroes and their new "brothers" and "sisters" have had other opportunities to have fun.
More pictures here. UD's school paper The Review carried two great articles on UDance and The B+ Foundation. Article 1. Article 2.
B+ FUN Raiser Also a FUND Raiser!
In April we held the B+ FUN Raiser -- a night designed to raise money as well as awareness. Old-fashioned board games as well as Guitar Hero, wii, and Dance Dance Revolution entertained the guests while they enjoyed appetizers served by some of Andrew's friends.
More importantly, almost 100 of our guests registered to be bone marrow donors. If they're lucky, they will one day be notified that they're a match for someone in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. 
As was the case with our Event Chairperson, Michael Goldberg, who was a bone marrow donor in 2007.
The main event was a team trivia game on the big screen using remote controls. Questions ranged from "How many pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year?" (3
billion) to "How often can you donate blood?" (every 2 months).
Our favorite question of the night: "What % of NCI (National Cancer Institute) funding is dedicated to pediatric cancer research?" The appalling answer is only 3%! So we launched into live auction to raise money to help support our efforts. And thanks to all our guests, we raised almost $40,000 for research and families in medical crisis.
Rob Strain took additional photos, available on his website, here.
Thanks also to Barclay's Bank, who provided their event space, all our generous auction item donors, and our 250 guests for expanding their minds and their hearts in joining our B+ nation.