NORRISTOWN >> When the Norristown Maenner-Chor Club recently hosted The A-Team’s latest display of generosity, Maenner-Chor President Jim McMonigle said that, like many people, he continues to be bowled over by the group’s tireless humanitarian efforts.
“These guys have taken on so many charitable tasks and we were fortunate to host this event where they literally took a kid who was on death’s doorstep and gave him 20 grand so he can have a heart valve transplant,” McMonigle said.
A check for $20,000 was presented by The A-Team, a nonprofit founded three years ago by C.J. Santangelo and friends, to the family of 11-year-old Maverik Laxton, an Amity, Berks County, boy who was born with an underdeveloped heart ventricle and has endured nine surgeries so far in his life .
The money was raised for Maverik through “Operation Tin Man,” a Wizard of Oz-themed BBQ and family fun day held at a Gilbertsville farm last June.
“We had about 1,200 people come out, including Maverik’s teachers,” recalled Kim Henderson, an A-Team board director. “We didn’t have a dollar amount in mind; the $20,000 was just the end result. We were blown away by the community support. Where many times we would give the money to several recipients, this fundraiser was just for this boy. He’s got such a great spirit. When you meet him, he’s so alive in every way, even though he’s struggling. He looks like he’s six years old but he’s 11. He’s just not growing properly due to a protein deficiency.”
Whether it’s helping a child with a heart defect or an adult dealing with cancer, The A-Team’s goal is pure and fundamental, and has been since the group officially came together in 2013, sparked by the Memorial Motorcycle Run for Julianne Siller, four months after the Spring-Ford High School student was stabbed to death on the Skippack Trail.
In those formative days of The A-Team, Santangelo rallied friends and family to celebrate the girl’s life while raising money to install a park bench in her memory.
“We’re trying to make this more of a celebration than a sad thing,” Santangelo said at the time. “My daughter is 16 and she had mutual friends with Julianne. I really feel for her father, and any father who loses a child, especially the way that happened. It was just so horrible.”
Santangelo recalled how Julianne’s murder seemed to get dwarfed by other events that spring.
“There was no national news talking about what a great daughter, sister, friend, student she was. There was no Al Sharpton, no Jesse Jackson, no riots, no protesting. This kind of went a little bit unnoticed. She was a beautiful kid and daughter, a hard worker. So I thought this would be a nice way to let the community know we’re celebrating her life,” he said.
Since then, the spirit of giving inspired by a senseless murder has sprouted into a boundless collective energy that can always be counted on to tackle whatever cause finds its way into the A-Team’s path.
Officially the bevy of good Samaritans is described as “a grassroots, nonprofit charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for local children and veterans during times of need and/or illness. The A-Team is not a motorcycle club, we are a team of passionate dedicated Patriots which consists of local families, friends, businesses and organizations and everyday citizens who come together to build each other up one mission at a time.”
A fundraising event takes about six weeks to come together, Henderson said.
“We start making calls, lining up the food trucks, the bands … we light the match and people run with it. The police and the community have always been wonderful. There’s no shortage of causes out there. We’re not ambulance chasers and we’re not looking for them, but there’s usually something that resonates with us. Otherwise, socially, we just like to hang out and have a good time,” added Henderson who has known Santangelo since they were students at Bishop Kenrick High School. “It’s so contagious how you feel when you’re at an A-Team event. From all the things I’ve seen with the A-Team since we’ve been doing this is that people want to see the good things. They’re tired of the negative and we’re trying to promote that and give faith to people and we want to help any way we can.”
To keep up with A-Team events, visit Ateam111.com.
