Hearts Of Gold Still Beating

Jordan Belous founded her charity Whip Pediatric Cancer when she was 16 years old, and is still raising funds while in college.   
Long Islander News archive photo

By Sophia Ricco
info@longislandergroup.com

When Jordan Belous first uploaded a video of herself doing the whip and nae nae on Facebook three years ago, she never could have imagined the impact it would make on awareness and research for pediatric cancer.

The “Whip Pediatric Cancer Challenge” was created by the Melville teen to challenge others to dance or donate. After gaining a massive amount of views and support, Belous knew she couldn’t stop there. This is when Belous came up with Heart of Gold, a fundraiser that sends gold hearts to schools and asks the students to color the hearts and collect a minimum donation of $2.

“It’s kids helping kids. I was just a kid when I started my foundation, I was 16 years old,” Belous said. “Even if you’re young you can still make a big difference and if you have an idea then you should go for it, you’re never too young.”

Belous is now 19 years old and attends Michigan State University but has not stopped raising funds for pediatric cancer. Heart of Gold is launching its third year of sending out gold hearts and has already received requests from 400 schools. Each school will distribute hearts to kids in all grades and can collectively make a huge impact.

“It doesn’t have to be a donation of $500, it could just be donating $2,” Belous said. “But with all the money added up it goes to $200,000. That’s how I’ve raised funds, small donations add up to a lot.”

This year, Heart of Gold is taking a big step to expand its reach by opening the program to businesses that will give gold hearts to their customers in exchange for a donation. Belous hopes this will increase donations among adults while making even more people aware of pediatric cancer.

The program has also gained international support, with requests from schools in India to participate. However, Belous wants to keep pushing for more international schools so she can “see the whole world go gold”.

The current goal is set at $200,000 but Belous won’t stop there, she hopes to keep upping the goal each year. All donations collected will go to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the leading hospital in pediatric cancer research. The center conducts research on treatment options and a cure, which benefits child cancer patients across the country.

“I know all of the hospitals work together. If they run out of options in Arizona then they’ll come to Sloan Kettering or another hospital,” Belous said. “They’re all in contact with each other to get the best treatment plan for each cancer case.”

With over 72,000 followers on Facebook and over $183,000 raised, Heart of Gold has grown larger than Belous could have ever imagined. She still thinks more can be done by raising awareness. Many do not even know that September is pediatric cancer awareness month or that gold is their color of support.

“Everyone knows that pink is for breast cancer but no one knows gold is for September so we’re trying to make gold as big as pink,” Belous said.

Belous is studying kinesiology in college with hopes of becoming a therapist for pediatric oncology. She still makes time to visit local hospitals while at college, and has continued to use Facebook to spread her message.

“There’s so many bad things on Facebook, you scroll through your feed and you’re like, ‘Next. Next.’ But this is something that should be shared and people should be made aware that there’s a 4-year old laying in a hospital bed fighting for their life and they don’t know if they’ll ever get to go to kindergarten,” Belous said.

With pediatric cancer being the top cause of death from disease for U.S. children ages 5-14, Belous hopes to grow her foundation every year. From an initial goal of $10,000 to now almost raising $200,000, this is a charity that doesn’t show any signs of stopping.

“I want to raise awareness to as many people as I can possibly touch,” Belous said. “I want to raise money so there are safer and better options for pediatric cancer. I know a cure we may never know but there are things coming about that are less painful and less toxic and that’s what we need.”

Schools and businesses that are interested in having a Heart of Gold can sign up online at whippediatriccancer.org and will receive a kit in the mail within a week.