Our mission is to raise funds and awareness towards a cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) while proving the abilities that come with disabilities.

Back in 2006, SMA Type 2 patient Angie Lee met a friend of a lifetime, Kyra Scadden. Kyra wondered why Angie could not join her in playing soccer. Once Kyra learned about SMA, she wanted to help.

With the generous assistance of Kyra and Angie’s surrounding community, the penny drive turned into a massive garage sale that raised over $9,400 within ten days.

Angie’s Hope was born.

Since then, the girls have hosted multiple huge garage sales and family dinner parties to raise funds for a cure. In 2014, they switched it up and decided to have a huge soccer tournament for their annual event. With the help of a forty-inch wheelchair friendly soccer ball, Kyra and Angie were finally able to play soccer together.

The soccer tournament consisted of thirty teams of 8-12 people competing for the championship. Players Indoor Sports Center was filled with people running around wearing blue “Cure SMA – The Ultimate Goal” t-shirts, as well as spectators who were able to enjoy a DJ, a moon bounce, games for both children and adults, a silent auction, raffles, and a concession stand. A Cappella groups sang the national anthem, cheerleaders performed the half time show, and JV and Varsity Soccer teams played on the field alongside the Student Government.

As Kyra and Angie have grown older along with the organization, they have been more than pleased to see the progress that the cause has made.

Now in college, the co-founders host virtual fundraisers so that all of Angie’s Hope’s supporters can get involved from all over the nation–spread out at different states and universities.

The prosperity of the event is evident of the awareness of the disease that is constantly spreading and the enormous difference a small idea can truly make. Since the founding of Angie’s Hope, two treatments for SMA have been approved by the FDA. Still, these treatments are not a cure.

Though it started with just two girls, Angie’ Hope has expanded into a team and community of people working together towards a goal that is now much larger than just one friend helping another out. Just as the organization has learned through the experiences of this fundraiser, it is crucial for people (both with SMA and without) to look at a disability not as a limitation, but instead as a chance to make a difference in the way people perceive each other. Then, together we will find a cure.