Inaugural Team G Family Festival

 The Team G Family Festival was incredible!  We were so excited with the turnout of family, friends, and individuals who came to support the kick off for our foundation and celebrating the lives of our inspirations "Angel Tianna" and "Survivor Gabriella".  I've attached the thank you letter but I'll be back to updating the blog more personally....once I have a free minute ;-)

A quote from Gabriella the other night:
"Do you know what I like about bedtime...you get to wait for the new day to come.  And you get to do new things."

On behalf of Team G Foundation, we want to thank you for your generous contribution to our Inaugural Team G Family Festival. Your contribution helped us raise over $6,000!  One hundred percent of the funds will go toward the Team G mission of supporting families fighting childhood cancer and funding research and development of treatments for pediatric cancers. 


Team G’s Inaugural Family Festival was held on July 7^th at the Redwood Estates Pavilion in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  We had about 200 family, friends and individuals from Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties.  The event was a fun family type atmosphere where everyone gathered for a day of celebration with a barbeque from the local Santa Clara County Fire Department, desserts and appetizers from local restaurants & bakeries, live entertainment including a live band, a bounce house, a raffle for some amazing items.  The event was a benefit for Team G Foundation where we officially launched our organization.  We celebrated the lives of our inspirations, our “Angel Tianna” and our “Survivor Gabriella” and honored the children and families affected by childhood cancer. 

We also kicked off our monthly challenge, “Fight for Gold” to inspire individuals around the country to “get active” in the fight against pediatric cancer.  Team G Foundation will continue to motivate individuals to participate in our “Fight for Gold” Challenge; a 7-minute exercise named for a child affected by cancer to be performed the 7^th day of every month.  The challenges will change monthly and will be named for a “Survivor”, a “Warrior” or an “Angel”.  We are encouraging individuals to raise funds and awareness necessary to change the face of pediatric cancer and provide more families with the hope they deserve.

Team G Foundation is a nonprofit organization currently in the process of obtaining a 501(c)3 dedicated to supporting families fighting pediatric cancer and funding new and innovative treatments to ultimately cure childhood cancer.  After a year of battling 4 year old survivor Gabriella’s cancer, committed parents Kristin and Adam along side Claudia and Diego, the parents of angel Tianna, a 14 year old from the same town who battled the same cancer, Team G Foundation was launched as a nonprofit corporation supporting all types of pediatric cancer research at leading institutes nationwide.  With a dedicated Team G board of advisors who are passionate about helping children fight cancer, nothing is impossible.  Until we find a cure for childhood cancer, we are dedicated to supporting families fighting this disease with our care packages, our online resources, and inspiring stories of children affected by cancer.

Thank you for your generous contribution to this event and cause. Every day, 36 children are diagnosed with cancer, and every day 7 children die. Pediatric cancer is the number one disease killer of children in the U.S. taking the lives of more children than asthma, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy combined.  A lack of funding into new and improved therapies contributes to this sobering statistic. Children are worth your investment, and we will make sure your investment in them is returned with exposure and recognition for your donation. We thank you for getting involved by donating goods to our event and by sponsoring our organization.  100% of the event proceeds will go directly to Team G Foundation’s Mission. To find out more about Team G Foundation please visit: www.teamgfoundation.org.

IMPORTANT DONORS AND PEOPLE WE'D LIKE TO THANK FOR YOUR SUPPORT, DONATION AND DEDICATION TO TEAM G FOUNDATION!!
Mona from Redwood Estates Pavilion
Postal Annex of Scotts Valley for discounting our shipping of care packages to pediatric cancer centers nationwide. 

Art, Adam, Tony, Joe, Phil, Kendall, Roger, and Brian of Santa Clara County Fire Department who worked the barbecue
Brian, Brian, and Brent of SCCFD Engine 4
Andy of Los Gatos Brewing Company
Jason of Jia Tella's
Rick of Erik's Deli on Soquel Ave

Los Gordos Taqueria

Taqueria Vallarta

Taqueria Agave
Mary and Mark of Maria Rae's
Margie of Whiting's Foods
Cara of Pacific Cookie Company
Kris of Sassy Cakes
Sybil of Santa Cruz Shaved Ice
Courtney of Creative Drinks of Los Gatos
Kellie of Surf City Coffee
Mike Hadley and The Groove
DJ Will B Smooth
Nicole from Glitterfish Face Painting SC
Dawn from Special Memories
Auntie Barb for Balloon Animals

Raffle Items:
John and Michonne from Kaemmerling Photo
Susan and David from Consortium Wine Tours
Mike from Scotts Valley Fire Department
Cliff from Adventure Out
Burrell School Vineyard
Hunter Hill Winery
Kelly from Adventure Sports
Cynthia from Far Niente
Janet and Bryan for Concannon Winery 
Michelle for Hand Made Quilts
Allison from Pizza My Heart
Rachael from Drawn 2 Art
Brittany from Britabella Design
Jolie from Stella and Dot
Abby of Faust Salon, Santa Cruz
Janessa from The Ginger People
Christina from My Smart Hands
Merri from Bead Goddess
Delia from Hulahips and her Hula Sisters
Angela from Chaminade
Deluxe Market
Mac Products
Macy's 
Bella Dawna

Behind the Scenes:
Renee Whiting for creating our flyer
Sean Conrad for creating our PSA
All our amazing volunteers!

WE ALSO WANTED TO THANK THOSE THAT PERFORMED IN OUR "FIGHT FOR GOLD" CHALLENGE!!  

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!  We ran the "Fight for Gold" Challenge to demonstrate the activity we are motivating people to "get active" for childhood cancer.  Those that competed took part in the Inaugural "Team G" Challenge.

"Advanced" Workout participants:
Whitney Heuser
David Millar

"The Brat Pack”
• Cathy Brock Meekins
• Andrew Borja
• Amanda Borja
• Kevin Cook
• Cece Cook
• Stephanie Klima
• Katherine Lee
• Cory Fosgate



Lembit Kulbin
Brian Cote
Sue Desrosiers
Angela Goble
Robert Asamoto
Erin Asamoto
Cliff Hodges
Morgan Hunt
Electra Stockwell
Steve Alberi
Adam Cosner
Kristin Cosner
Jen Beam McDonnell
Ronnie Boose
Melanie Turowski


For those who didn't hear, I wanted to post my speech.

Thank you all for coming here today to help us kick off our foundation… and celebrate the lives of our "Angel Tianna" who was taken by cancer last August… and our "Warrior" Gabriella, who completed cancer treatments this past February. Today we are launching Team G Foundation, in dedication to these two young girls who have been the inspiration behind our organization.  We are also here to honor all the children who have been and will be affected by childhood cancer. I wanted to start by sharing with you...the story about our journey...It all began in March 2012 when we heard the startling words, "your child has cancer"....which... literally…took our breath away and changed our lives forever . Our oldest daughter, Gabriella was diagnosed at the age of 4... with a malignant and aggressive type of childhood cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.  Family and friends came together....and....a whole community came together in support of our little girl as we began our battle through pediatric cancer. Through this journey, we met another young warrior....a young girl from the same community fighting the same cancer....Tianna. Diagnosed at only 14 years old and in the midst of her treatments, Tianna reached out to our family after reading about Gabriella in the local paper.....calling her mom and saying, "mom, we have to help these people". We were lucky enough to meet Tianna's loving family....and Tianna....right before she earned her angel wings. Since that day, our families have come together on a united front to fight childhood cancer.    Team G is here for one reason... to fight this insidious disease until no other parent hears the words...."your child has cancer"We will do whatever it takes... to fund clinical trials that further study cancer in children....find research studies for progressions in treatment....and ultimately find a cure. Until then, we will support families fighting their child's cancer with the resources on our website, with stories of children that have inspired us... and with our "care packages" for families newly diagnosed with pediatric cancer. Since 36 children would be diagnosed every day with cancer here in the United States, we new we needed to find a way to reach out to these families....to let them know they were not alone in this fight.  Our packages are delivered to social workers at pediatric cancer centers nationwide....where they will be given to cancer parents in the hope that it will offer some type of solace.  This is the first part of our mission.  The second part...is to fund further research for better treatments for childhood cancer.  Currently, less than 4% of the National Cancer Institute's budget is allocated to all 12 major types of childhood cancer.  Only 2 new drugs have been developed to treat pediatric cancer in the last 20 years.  Most of the drugs available for treatment today are 30 to 40 years old.  Every day, 7 children loose their battle with cancer and earn their angel wings.  Most of the ones that survive pay a significant price.  Our children deserve better......out children deserve cutting edge treatments...... out children deserve a brighter future.  We can't do this alone....so please help us make a difference in the lives of these children by helping fund childhood cancer research.... and help support their parents who begin their journey with pediatric cancer.