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Current Events

Once a month we hold an event for a family/person in need. We also conduct other exciting projects. Here is where you can find information about how you can get involved and upcoming events.

Join Team Cookie

Posted by Admin on Oct 4, 2017 in Current Events, Families In Need, Helping Families | 0 comments

Wednesday, October 11 4 – 10pm Big Apple Pizza & Pasta 2311 S. 35th Street, Fort Pierce It’s Round Two and Carrie “Cookie” Conley is kicking cancer’s ass. The mother of two is battling Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and with your help, it’s a fight this family plans to win! Come out, eat some pizza, share a hug with the family,donate blood and/or a few dollars, and join Team...

Against The Odds: Man Lives To Celebrate 21st Birthday

Posted by Admin on Jul 13, 2017 in Awards & Recognitions, Current Events, Helping Families, Special Events | 0 comments

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – It was a 21st birthday that wasn’t supposed to happen. A Port St. Lucie man, who has outlived his doctor’s prognosis, became of legal age Wednesday. When Dylan Picariello was 3 and a half years old and seemingly healthy, doctors found an inoperable brain tumor. It grew aggressively. At 6-years-old, he was given two weeks to two months to live. But Wednesday he turned 21-years-old. Pizza and beer: those were the requests from the birthday boy. “Perfect birthday, that’s what we’re trying to do for the man. Trying to keep my man happy, Dylan,” said Jordan Vanduzer from behind the counter, making pizza, at Big Apple Pizza in Ft. Pierce. Read full article...

Weaving a Web of Healing for Maddie Lane

Posted by The Vanduzer Foundation on Aug 8, 2016 in Current Events, Families In Need, Helping Families | 0 comments

Ten year-old Maddie Lane Demers loves Spiderman and the color purple. Until a few months ago, her world revolved around cheerleading with her pals from the Renegades, enjoying time with her family and friends, and loving Spiderman and purple. Then a diagnosis of a very rare form of bone cancer changed everything for Maddie Lane and her family. Now it’s traveling back and forth to Cleveland Clinic and a regimen of needles, blood tests, and treatments to battle multicentric osteogenic sarcoma and tumors trying to take over her tiny body. In addition to altering everything Maddie and her family knew as normal, this insidious disease is taking a huge toll financially for the family, and they need some love and support from the community. On Wednesday, August 24th, the Van Duzer Foundation will host an evening of fun and family to support Maddie Lane and her family at Big Apple Pizza in Fort Pierce at 2311 South 35th Street, directly across from Indian River State College. The fun will begin at 4 p.m. and go until 10 p.m., and there will be bounce houses, music courtesy of Traxx Entertainment, laughter, and loads of fun and support for Maddie Lane and this family enduring a difficult time. Maddie’s friends from the Renegades Cheer Team will be on hand providing personalized cheers for donors and the cheerleaders and football team will host a bake sale to help raise funds for the treatments to battle Maddie’s illness. And the awesome staff from Relentless Salon will be providing clipper cuts, bangs trimming and braiding to help Maddie and her family, too. As always with a Van Duzer Foundation fundraiser, one hundred percent of all food and beverages sold will be given to the family, and everyone working on the evening of a fundraiser donates salary, tips, and time for an all-volunteer evening to show the power of community support. You’re going to be hungry that night anyway – why not make your meal count for something special and show a little love and support for a family in...

Hometown Hero Takes the First Step

Posted by Admin on Jun 6, 2016 in Current Events, Press Room, Special Events | 0 comments

Jacksonville native Samuel Barrington has decided to take the First Step. Long known for his prowess on the field and his philanthropic efforts off it, the much-acclaimed linebacker for the Green Bay Packers who most-recently received the Pop Warner 2016 Humanitarian Award, is teaming up with a small, but mighty group of volunteers and community leaders in implementing a program that invites everyone in the community to take the First Step in creating a better, stronger, and more cohesive community. And you can join the fun and take the First Step, too, on Saturday, June 11th, at 1 p.m., at Justina Road Elementary School Park. State Representative Mia L. Jones will join Barrington, State Representative Larry Lee, Junior, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara, Christina Phillips president of Precision Sports Management Group and a few surprise guests for a free afternoon filled with fun, games, and community-building. The First Step program had a humble start last year a couple hundred miles south of Jacksonville in Fort Pierce, Florida. In an effort to create a safer community in Garden Terrace, an area of Fort Pierce once known as “Little Vietnam” because of the violence, Scott Van Duzer, a pizza shop owner widely-publicized for bear-hugging President Barack Obama and St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara started visiting the Garden Terrace every Tuesday afternoon. The pair brought a football, a few friends, and a few pizzas. They asked for nothing except some company on the long-neglected playground. Before long, the pair had been joined by dozens of kids of all ages from the community and other community members who also wanted to take the First Step towards a stronger community. Click Here To Read...