Project Gilmore Girl

Charlie “Cash” Hicks is part of my “Why”. At only 8 years old, Cash gained his wings after a long battle with cancer. Although St. Jude has made amazing break throughs in childhood cancer research, we cannot stop until no child dies of cancer. As the great Danny Thomas said, “No child should die in the dawn of life”. If St. Jude won’t stop working to find a cure, then I won’t stop doing my part to help St. Jude help children like Cash. The time is now to do our part, please join me by donating to St. Jude by clicking on the green button at the bottom of this page.

Project Gilmore Girl was born from Julia’s greatest passion to not only help, but to be a champion for the kids at St. Jude. Through her platform, Project Gilmore Girl, she is a dedicated fundraiser going on 10 years strong, and has raised over $96,000 in gift cards, cash donations and over 1500 toys for young patients to have during their treatments.

In September 2022, Julia’s Fundraiser she called, Project Imagination collected over 350 Arts & Craft Supplies, over $1200 in Amazon Gift Cards, and over $36,000 in cash donations! The crafts will provide a distraction from a child’s treatment at St. Jude, even if only for a little while. The gift cards will allow a patient or a family member to pick out something special from Amazon. $20,000 in cash is being donated to St. Jude to help with operating expenses which could be put towards chemo treatments, ICU care, child-size crutches, or hand weights used for physical therapy – just to name a few. $12,000 is being donated to the research team to use to help their Strategic Plan to advance the cure of cancer globally.

In September 2021, Julia’s St. Jude Fundraiser included a $10,000 cash donation to benefit the St. Jude Strategic Plan to accelerate progress globally.

Julia’s St. Jude fundraiser in September 2020 included a $6000 contribution to the St. Jude research team to help them learn how COVID-19 affects children with Cancer. In November 2020, it was reported that St. Jude scientists identified a possible COVID-19 treatment. It is remarkable, that through the very simple yet focused fundraising efforts, Project Gilmore Girl was able to support scientists working to find treatments for children affected by the virus.

Every September since 2014, in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Julia has organized a fundraiser benefiting St. Jude.

2014: Project Blankie
- At only 9 years old, Julia made, collected, and delivered hundreds of tie fleece blankets to the kids at St. Jude.
2015 Project Showtime
- Collected and donated new release DVD movies and Amazon Gift Cards so that the kids of St. Jude had new movies to watch during their treatments.
2016 Project Playtime
- Collected and donated Barbie Dolls and Toy Cars to be given out by Target House and St. Jude so that the kids had something to play with during their treatments.
2017 Project Celebration
- Collected Amazon and Target gift cards so that parents could buy their child something for their birthday while at St. Jude, or for a child at St. Jude to be able to buy something for them self or a family member.
2018 Project Read Along
- Collected and donated books and Amazon gift cards so that the kids of St. Jude had something to read during their treatments.
2019 Project Legoland and Cancer Research
- Collected and donated new Lego playsets, Amazon gift cards and cash donations. The Lego Sets and Amazon gift cards went to the kids at St. Jude and the cash donations went to the Research team at St. Jude.
  - Over $5000 was donated to the research team at St. Jude in honor of Ariya, Carter, Carson, Austin, and Ava. Each of these special children were affected by one of these cancers:
    - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Research
    - Astrocytoma Glioma – brain tumor (E Clinic) Research
    - Osteosarcoma
    - Germ Cell Tumor Research
2020 Project Play Dough and Covid-19 Research
- Collected and donated new Play-Dough sets, Amazon gift cards and cash donations.
  - Over $6000 was donated to the research team at St. Jude to study the affect that Covid-19 has on children with cancer.
2021 Project Energizer and St. Jude Global Research
- Julia collected new batteries and various chargers for the kids at St. Jude to always have power for their toys and electronics that they have with them during their treatments. She also collected night lights, sound machines, and glow in the dark decals to add brightness and comfort to their treatment rooms.
- Julia also collected over $12,000 in Amazon Gift cards and cash donations.
- All cash donations will benefit the St. Jude Global Research team as they work with their international partners to continue the fight against cancer.
- See the tab for Project Energizer through this link: https://gilmoregivingtree.org/julias-8th-annual-fundraiser-benefiting-st-jude-childrens-research-hospital/
2022 Project Imagination and St. Jude Global Research
- Julia collected arts and craft supplies for the children to play with and create during their treatments. Julia also collected $1200 in Amazon gift cards, and over $36,000 in cash donations. The cash donations were contributed to St. Jude to help with operating expenses and also to benefit the St. Jude Global Research team as they work with their international partners to continue the fight against cancer.