Giant-Landover Presents Inaugural NextGen Award

Giant-Landover is presenting the first-ever Giant Food NextGen Award for Children’s Cancer Research in conjunction with the Children’s Cancer Foundation Inc. (CCF) on Oct. 8 at the Children’s National Medical Center, in Washington, D.C.

The $100,000 grant, created specifically for young investigators and made possible by funds raised through the Landover, Md.-based grocery chain’s annual “Triple” Winner program, will go to Dr. Leslie Doros of Children’s National Medical Center.

Scheduled to speak at the presentation are Terry McGowan, director, quality assurance at Giant and current CCF board member; Dr. Jerrold C. Chadwick Jr., CCF president; Dr. Mark Batshaw, director, Children’s Research Institute, CCF; and Mark Brewster, father of current Children’s National patient Jasmine Brewster.

Since it began in 2005, Triple Winner has raised $11.5 million for pediatric cancer research, making it one of the most successful cause marketing programs in the United States. In 2013, Giant raised $1.6 million, a $100,000 increase from 2012, in funds to fight children’s cancer.

An Ahold company, Giant Food LLC operates 169 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia, and employs about 20,000 associates.

Owings Mills, Md.-based CCF has awarded grants of more than $34.5 million for the building of treatment facilities and for research at Children’s National Medical Center, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of Maryland Medical System, Sinai Hospital, the National Cancer Institute at N.I.H., The Uniformed Services University, and The Children’s Inn.

The foundation launched the NextGen Awards through the support of Giant Food, in response to decreasing funding for pediatric cancer research, which receives only 3 percent of the money raised for cancer research.