Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from all of us at Jacob's Chance and River City Buddy Ball!  We started 2015 off with some VERY exciting news!!!!  Jacob's Chance was picked as a recipient for the Deep Run High School Marathon Dance!! 

 

This marathon dance is a fundraiser to benefit charities of our local community. Deep Run High School students, of all grades, come together to raise money for these causes. The dance lasts for 27 hours where students dance continuously.  Since it's inception in 2007, the marathon events have raised over 1.36 MILLION DOLLARS.  Holy cow how impressive is that!!!!

 

Our mission is to have our teen/young adult recreation center a reality by 2017.  Jacob's Chance is run strictly by volunteers and never charges families to participate in our sporting or social events. Fundraising is the key to our success.  Becoming a recipient of the marathon is going to mean great things for Jacob's Chance and all of the athletes that we know and love!

Following are some events YOU can participate in to help raise funds for the marathon AND Jacob's Chance.  So grab a pen, mark your calendars, tell your friends and come on out and support us!!

GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING!

February 4th- Buffalo Wild Wings 5-9PM
4300 Pouncey Tract Road
Glen Allen, VA 23060

February 10th - Spaghetti Dinner at Deep Run 5:30-7:30
4801 Twin Hickory Road
Glen Allen, VA 23059

February 15th- Zumba at Deep Run 2-4PM
4801 Twin Hickory Road
Glen Allen, VA 23059

February 19th- Bowl America 6-8PM
4400 Pouncey Tract Road
Glen Allen, VA 23060

February 23th- Chipotle 6-9PM
11728 West Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23233

March 1st- Zumba at Deep Run 2-4PM
4801 Twin Hickory Road
Glen Allen, VA 23059

March 4th- Jumpology 7-9PM
10087 Brook Road
Glen Allen, VA 23059

March 13th- Annual Pancake Supper 5:30-7:30PM
4801 Twin Hickory Road
Glen Allen, VA 23059

March 14th- Midas Blood Drive 10AM-4PM
11463 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23233

March 18th- Buffalo Wild Wings 5-9PM
4300 Pouncey Tract Road
Glen Allen, VA 23060

If you have ANY questions about these events, or want to know how you can get involved and help support our athletes, please contact us at info@jacobschance.org

Santa's Merry Mall!

What an amazing time we had last night at our first annual "Santa's Merry Mall"!

The kids had a great time shopping for their loved ones in our festive stores!

 

 

 

A big shout out to Jennifer McMillen for coming up with the idea for Santa's Merry Mall and for creating all of the fabulous signs!

 

 

When they were done shopping they headed over to have their gifts wrapped for them.

 

 They had dinner at Prancer's Pizza Palace...

 

...and enjoyed some hot cocoa...

...complete with all the fixings to make their drink tasty!

 

 (thank you Monique!)

 

Oh, and the sweets, can't forget the sweets!

 

 

Everyone got to make reindeer ornament to take home as a souvenir.

 

 Probably the most exciting part of the evening was hearing a special guest was arriving.  And that guest arrived in style compliments of some of Henrico's finest at Engine 12!

It was pure joy to see the children's face light up when the doors opened up and out came Ole St. Nick!

 

The kids were so eager to talk to him and get him inside!

Santa had his work cut out for him as he had lots of presents to personally call out to each child and their siblings to receive a gift that was hand picked with their hobbies and interests in mind.

  Santa and his snow angel and elf helper ready to begin!

 

 

  

The one common denominator the whole evening was the smiles. 

 

 

 

 

We all felt incredibly blessed last night to be part of something that made so many kids so happy. 

 

 

None of this could have been possible without the generous support from our friends at Movement Mortgage who provided Santa with ALL of the toys for the children.  A special thank you to Bob McNerney and his dedication to making the evening happen. We are truly overwhelmed by their kindness and support to our program.  A huge thank you must go out to two of Santa's elves who hand picked and wrapped each and every toy - Sly and Tom.  The time and energy you put into this was truly a labor of love and we are all so grateful.  Our hearts are full.

And last, but certainly not least, our fearless leader who always wants to give the absolute best to these children, Kate Tilley.  Without your vision, drive and passion, we wouldn't be where we are today!

Thank you to every single person who had a hand in making last night such a great night for the children and to Saint Michael's church for hosting us! 

 

Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season.  Great things are happening and we can't wait to share more exciting events in 2015! 

Football Season Ends!

What a great flag football season we had this year!!   We had a record number of players and our awesome buddies didn't disappoint!

A big round of applause to everyone who made our Fall flag football, tennis and cheering season a huge success!   We are growing and great things are happening!!!

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on the basketball courts on Saturday!!

AN EVENING OF STARS!

On Saturday, October 11th, Jacob's Chance sponsored our first River City Buddy Ball Homecoming Dance.  Our "Evening of Stars" were shining bright and it was wonderful seeing how much fun all of our stars had!  What a GREAT night we had!    Each of our kids received flowers when they came in and a crown or tiara because they all deserved to be the Kings and Queens of the evening!  It took A LOT of work to pull the dance off so first and foremost we have to start with a big thank you to everyone who made the night possible.   

A BIG thank you to the "dance committee" who created this great night for our kids.  Monique Olliver, Barb Batt, Jennifer McMillen, Sly Kraemer and Donna Hayes, thank you for creating a wonderful evening from start to finish for our kids.  

A huge thank you to the Glen Allen Community Center for donating the space, to JJ's Grille and Little Caesar's for donating food, TB's Karaoke and DJ for the great music, Lindsay Ryman for the incredible stars cupcakes, Ms. Margi for taking all of the pictures linked below, the team from VACO for helping to coordinate volunteers, hours of decorating, baking cupcakes and cookies, and being GREAT dance partners to a lot of our kids and Movement Mortgage for ALL that you do.   Thank you Casey for "The Twist" challenge - we will hold you to being at next year's dance, but hope you and your wife had a fabulous weekend :) 

We had a great night of wonderful food, desserts, cotton candy, popcorn, face painting music and dancing. The kids starting dancing the second the music started and they didn't stop until it was over. THIS is exactly what Jacob's Chance vision is all about - our kids coming together, feeling comfortable and being able to socialize and have FUN! 

 

To see more great pictures from the night, click HERE (password Dance!).

We are already making plans for next year - if you missed it this year, we promise you wont want to miss it next year!

Thank you again to everyone who made the night possible, to all the parents for sharing your children with us and to ALL of our stars for sharing your smiles and inspiring us - you are why we do what we do and you make us all want to be better people!

The Amazing Raise!

A big, big thank you to everyone who participated in the Amazing Raise with us this year! 

 

Big shout out to the Jacob's Chance team that walked or ran the 5K as well!

 

Kate Tilley crossing the finish line - look at the big smile!!

 

Thanks to your generosity we raised $1,640 during the Raise.  The money raised will help to build our programs including forming our first soccer league in the Spring!   A very special thank you to Monique Olliver who donated $500 in honor of her mother, Elizabeth Olliver, who passed away last year from a Stage IV Glioblastoma brain tumor.  Monique is on the Jacob's Chance Board and her son, Patrick, is one of our awesome athletes. We are proud to have them in our Jacob's Chance Family!

Thank you again for helping to make a difference in our community - great things are happening!!

The Snow Family

Meet three incredible kids who really know how to make a difference.

Reagan (6), Ethan (10), Jack (9)

 

This summer these great kids chose to raise money for River City Buddy Ball.  Their cousin has played baseball through River City Buddy Ball for years and they enjoy both watching her play and serving as a buddy as needed. Ethan, Jack, and Reagan worked together to create a fun morning of minute-to-win-it games for their friends, lined up teen volunteers to help, and requested a donation of $5 per player.  Not only were the kids able to spread awareness about River City Buddy Ball but they raised over $600 in the process!!!! 

 

A sincere, heartfelt thank you to the Snow Family.  You are proof that no matter what age, we ALL can make a difference in this world and our hearts are grateful!!

 

Thank you for coming out to our opening day to present the money to our President, Kate Tilley - you guys did a phenomenal job! 

 

And a HUGE thank you to Molly and Neil Snow as well for setting such a wonderful example for your children!

 

How will you make a difference today?!?

Fall Sports Have Begun!!

We are two weeks into our Fall programs and what an exciting two weeks it's been!  We have doubled the sizes of our teams for both football and tennis and we LOVE seeing all the smiling faces of our players!

We had a great opening day presenting jersey's and meeting team mates on Saturday and had another great turnout for tennis on Sunday (tennis pictures to follow).  A big thank you to all of our players and buddies for such a great start to the season!!!

Opening day also happened to be Kate's birthday.  And every princess deserves a tiara :) 

Everyone did a fabulous job of serenading Kate and signing Happy Birthday! 

There would be no Buddy Ball or Jacob's Chance vision without Kate.  Kate's tireless efforts in continually growing the programs make our community a better place.  The world could definitely use a lot more Kates.

So a big round of applause to you Kate - we are all blessed to have such an amazing friend. Thank you for having the heart that you do for the children and for all you do!