News

This upcoming event in Old Town has helped raise more than $120K for children’s cancer research

By James Cullum

There are still available tickets for the eighth annual Capes and Cocktails event benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Alexandria writer Jeannette Wages has hosted the event for eight years, and has helped raise more than $120,000 toward cancer research in honor of four-year-old Lewkas Rhone, who died in 2013.

This year’s event is at the Fish Market Restaurant. Tickets cost $50 and it will be held on Friday, September 17 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $50.

Rhone was the son of a friend of Wages, and she only saw him twice — when he was three years old and at his funeral.

“It’s so hard to talk about these things,” Wages said. “I got to meet him. He was super sweet, had just so much energy and zest for life for somebody who pretty much spent his entire life in hospitals.”

Wages and her Team Super Lukas have also participated in the St. Jude’s Walk/Run since 2011. This year’s walk/run is being held virtually on September 25.

“Lewkas never made it to five-years-old,” Wages said. “And as long as we keep saying his name, then he’s still with us and making a difference.”

About the Author

  • Reporter James Cullum has spent nearly 20 years covering Northern Virginia. He began working with ALXnow in 2020, and has covered every story under the sun for the publication, from investigative stories to features and photo galleries. His work includes coverage of national and international situations, as well as from the White House, Capitol, Pentagon, Supreme Court and State Department. He's covered protests and riots throughout the U.S. (including the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol), in addition to earthquake-ridden Haiti, Western Sahara in North Africa and war-torn South Sudan. He has photographed presidents and other world leaders, celebrities and famous musicians, and excels under pressure.