Meet the team - Alissa Nicks

Name:    Alissa Nicks

Age:       30, and a 13 year breast cancer survivor

Day job: I work as a Project Coordinator at an IT company and I am the mom of a beautiful and wild baby girl.

What do you do at Alissa's Hope?
I am the co-founder and president of Alissa's Hope.

What does being a part of Alissa's Hope mean to you?
Being a part of Alissa's Hope means that I am getting an opportunity to give back to the community that gave me so much when I was sick. We started this group because we wanted to honor my mentor that passed away from cancer. She was so involved with local cancer charities and hospitals, it seemed natural that we did everything we could to pick up where she left off in the fight against cancer. We started with just a small fundraiser one year and it has snowballed into something amazing. We have the best group of volunteers in St. Louis! And the people that I have met since we started fundraising 4 years ago have been inspiring. It is a lot of hard work but knowing that the money that we raise is helping people get the help that they need is what keeps us going.

What is the best memory that you have of one of our events?
There are so many! But I will narrow it down to two. The first was the last song of the sing-a-long at PINKAPALOOZA II. We were singing "Fix You" by Coldplay, and had just thrown out 20+ 2 foot balloons in the crowd. I was 8 months pregnant and as I waddled up the the stage the confetti cannons went off over my husband. He hugged me and said, "we did it". Through my tears I looked out at the crowd and everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves. It was surreal. The closest I will ever come to feeling like a rock star. You can watch a piece of it here. Watch for Jim and Cathy high-fiving. I love that part!

The other best memory of an event is one that I have talked about in another post. It was a group of girls that were rallying around their friend who had just finished chemo. It was at another PINKAPALOOZA. The group just had the best time celebrating life and their friendships. By the end of the night they were dancing on the tables. I loved it! It is the main reason we are trying the Survivors' Jubilee this year.

Tell us about the new event, The Survivors' Jubilee.
We are so excited about this event. This is going to be a night to celebrate survivors and their family and friends. Every year on my "survivor-versary", I gather my friends and family and we go out and have a great time and celebrate this life. I would like to give everyone the opportunity to celebrate their "survivor-versary" with their family and friends just like the group of ladies I talked about at PINK. We will have food and drink and a comedienne and two wonderful bands. It will kind of be like a wedding reception with the guests of honor being the survivor. We will celebrate life, inspire each other and have a wonderful party!

How do you see the future of Alissa's Hope?
I would like to continue to do fundraising events like PINKAPALOOZA. It is something that we enjoy so much. We like to go over the top with everything we do so we find joy in it on both sides, giving people a great show and using the money we raise to help others. Right now we are distributing the money to hospitals for funds that help patients pay for treatments and other necessities for their health as well as for research. Eventually we would like to develop programs and support groups but that is still in development stages. Stay tuned!