Throughout high school, Justin Spoon felt led to travel to Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti on short term missions with his church. He was deeply moved by each and every person he met during these trips, particularly children who joyfully approached the deep hardships they lived with every day.

He wanted to do more.

   During that time, he decided to “Elevate” missions by hosting a fundraising event with a night of worship. The concert was called “Elevate” and the logo he created for the event was a variation of the one we’ve modified for the charity.

  Over time, we [Justin’s family] began to learn that the mountain in this image was a representation of his faith. To us, it’s also a reminder that when Justin recognized hardship for others, he did something about it.

We seek to do the same with Elevate.

    Many remember him as the “guy with the green headband.”

   Why the green?

   Justin’s love of the color “action green” started out pretty simple: Justin loved watching football and his favorite team was the Seattle Seahawks, along with their bright green uniforms! As an athlete himself, he chose “action green” shoes, socks, arms sleeves and one day he bought an “action green” headband. As a collegiate runner, he wore the headband in every race.

   Looking back, he told us [the Spoon family] he just needed something to keep the sweat out of his eyes! He began to notice that people remembered him as “the guy with the green headband.” He shared this with us later…

    “People might not remember the time I ran nor the place I finished, but they remember how I acted and how I treated them…thus, for me, to wear that green is to know that all eyes are on me, depending on me to be fearless, relentless in both competition and kindness, and to set an example for those around me to follow.” -Justin Spoon

   For Elevate, the “action green” in the logo represents our drive to be fearless and relentless in the face of the uphill battle to save and improve the lives of those diagnosed with childhood cancer.

   Yes.

    The purple has a link to Kalina and something she would often say,

“It’s purple– like my pants!”

    Clearly her favorite comfy pants when you’d hear her sing song voice. Anything she saw that was close to that light shade was named, ‘purple like my pants’. While it wasn’t her favorite all time color the official designation stuck and purple like my pants will forever be linked to her with a smile.

   The other colors represented within Elevate are yellow, the color that represents sarcoma, and orange, which represents kidney cancers, and the rest are just for fun!

    Our logos, outdoor themes, and colors are all a small piece of what makes Elevate unique. But the kids behind it are the driving force of our work. We aim to summit the mountains our children didn’t get an opportunity to climb. We want to finish our race strong like they did. We believe we can and will make a dramatic difference for those diagnosed with childhood cancer and would love for you to join us! 

   The love and passion for the natural world around Kalina was undeniable. No mountain was too tall, no river too wide— she was all in. If you knew Kalina you knew that the smell of Fall was more precious, the snow always felt lighter and the sun shown brighter with her around.

    Never taking a sunset for granted was something she did better than most adults. We can all learn to be a bit more grateful for those around us and our world if we look at it like she did. 

   Our founding board members’ children, Justin and Kalina, loved being outside hiking, running, swimming and biking. We want to remember our children in these beautiful places, enjoying their lives free of cancer. 

   We strive for a better future for those who come behind us. 

Let kids be ‘kids’.