National GRACE Foundation Announces 2018 Scholarships

From The National GRACE Foundation:At their 7th annual Beach Party July 21, The National GRACE Foundation awarded scholarships to this year’s Isabel Helen Farnum recipients and announced the addition of a 5K run to their already successful “RIde Against Cancer” event in September.

The National GRACE Foundation is a non-profit that aims to help pediatric cancer patients and survivors navigate through the college admissions process and juggle the workload of a college student post treatment. GRACE stands for Growing, Recovering, Achieving a College Education.

This year’s recipients, Lauren Lake and Riley Magner each received a $10,000 college scholarship.

Lauren Lake’s diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) was just the beginning of her pediatric cancer journey. After 2 ½ years of treatment, she relapsed with Mono Dysplastic syndrome and underwent radiation treatments, a bone marrow transplant, and had a bout with sepsis. Through it all, she came out with only a few thyroid issues and has since raised thousands of dollars for cancer organizations in Rhode Island, created and led a high school pediatric cancer awareness group. She will be enrolling at Catholic University in the fall.

Riley Magner was diagnosed with brain cancer at the young age of 14 months old. She went through three brain surgeries and over 100 MRI scans since her diagnosis. As a fighter, she is now cancer free and has used her experiences to help others through fundraising outlets such as Love Your Melon and Relay for Life. Today she is enrolled at Rhode Island College in the X-Ray Technology program.

Since its founding in 2011 by Anthony Gallonio and Michelle Lariviere, the foundation has helped more than 1,000 families, and their student recipients have benefited from over $800,000 in funding. As of 2018, $80,000 in scholarships have been given to nine recipients. Two of the students have graduated from college, while the other seven are still enrolled.

“As I look back on these past four years, I realize how blessed I am to have received so much support from The National GRACE Foundation and honored to have been chosen as an Isabel Helen Farnum Scholarship recipient,” said Kendra Cimaglia a 2014 scholarship recipient. “From assisting my family and me through the college admissions process to providing financial assistance, they were there for me every step of the way. They met with us on your own time, explained each and every college acceptance offer, wrote letters on our behalf and answered our many questions.”

In addition to the announcement of the 2018 IHF recipients, The National GRACE Foundation also announced that they will be adding a “Run Against Cancer” 5K to the “RIde Against Cancer” cycling event this Fall.

According to Executive Director Gallonio, the 5K run offers another participation avenue for families who have shown interest in supporting the non-profit and want to be involved in the event. Both events will take place on Sept. 30.

Image courtesy of The National GRACE Foundation