When a bright red “V” pops up in an undeveloped lot in Northeast Florida, the locals know what’s coming. The bold letter, which looks like it belongs on the chest of a comic book superhero, denotes the latest location of a V Pizza, the beloved local restaurant chain that started in Jacksonville. To some, the “V” means a new, delicious pizzeria is coming to the neighborhood. But for others, it’s a beacon of hope.

V for Victory, a nonprofit organization, was formed in 2017 when the owner of V Pizza, Paul Scott, was faced with the cancer diagnosis of his 3-year-old son. Scott learned that when your entire world is flipped upside down, menial tasks like mowing the lawn or cooking dinner are no longer easy. “As they (Scott’s family) were navigating that cancer journey, they saw firsthand the impact beyond just the medical diagnosis,” says Jacklyn Overby, the executive director of V for Victory. Overby gave insight into the hectic, stressful lives of families like Scott’s, including the difficulty they face in accomplishing minor yet necessary daily tasks like making dinner when a diagnosis, an upcoming procedure or a health insurance issue puts everything else on the back burner. Scott realized the families of cancer warriors needed help and hatched a plan.

“If everyone steps up and does one thing, working together we can support the community without being a burden on any one person’s back,” Overby explained as the idea behind V for Victory.

Harnessing his entrepreneurial spirit and pizzeria group, Scott created V for Victory to serve families fighting a cancer diagnosis in the Greater Jacksonville area. At each V Pizza location, stretching from Central Florida up to North Carolina, cancer warriors and their families can walk into a restaurant and receive a free dinner while other customers have the option of donating to V for Victory simply by noting an amount on their receipt, similar to how they would tip their server. V for Victory then began forming partnerships with other businesses in the area to provide a full range of support from lawn care and plumbing to guitar lessons and cleaning services, which would help to ensure the regular rhythms of life could continue. These businesses give a charitable discount for their goods and services, which V for Victory covers on behalf of the families. One of their biggest partners is Big Chief Tire, an automobile care and tire service center, which promises to serve any V for Victory family at no cost to them.

If everyone steps up and does one thing, working together we can support the community without being a burden on any one person’s back. —Jacklyn Overby

“There hasn’t been a single family in the last year that we’ve had to deny a car repair for since partnering with Big Chief Tire. With their support, we’ve been able to help them (the families) all in getting back and forth to their treatment,” says Overby. “I would say hands down that has been one of the best moves that we’ve made.”

Another popular program is Bricks of Love, which began when the Lego Group donated over 6,500 buildable brick sets in 2021. After receiving any cancer-related treatment at Nemours Children’s Health or Wolfson Children’s Hospital, both pediatric hospitals in Jacksonville, patients are gifted a Lego set of their choosing as a way to create a positive association with care and therapy. The Lego sets range from $20 to $900 in value, and some are larger than the kids themselves, including a functioning roller coaster and a baby grand piano.

Overby has high hopes to expand other programs in 2024. Inspired by a V for Victory family, she is amassing help to restart a tutoring program for children falling behind in school. “This is what it looks like for a lot of our families,” Overby says. She shared a story about a mother with two children, one of them battling cancer. For a long time, she was scared her son wasn’t going to survive. His older sister, living in a house deep in medical crisis for years, fell behind in school and started having her own academic and mental health issues. “(Cancer) has impacts on the other children in the household,” Overby says.

In an effort to serve the entire family, V for Victory provided tutoring services for the academic school year to children living in a household in which either a sibling or parent was fighting cancer. With the right financial resources and tutors in place, Overby aims to relaunch the program in the coming year. V for Victory is also expanding outside the pizzeria and onto the kitchen table to provide precooked and healthy meals delivered directly to more than 700 families’ doors.

When North Florida residents drive by a bright V, they debate what it stands for. Some say, “very, very good pizza.” V Pizza tells guests it stands for veloce, the Italian word for fast. But to the families at V for Victory, it represents an entire community supporting them during difficult times and celebrating the wins on the happiest of days. At the end of treatment, V for Victory gives a celebratory gift to each family. Ranging from painting houses and planning parties to family photoshoots, V for Victory utilizes local businesses and volunteers to make the families’ big day just a little brighter.

“Everyone can do a small part. It’s really about activating the community and helping your neighbor. It’s incredible. I feel privileged to see it every day,” Overby says. “It’s truly just local people helping local people.” 

For more information on V for Victory or to find ways to help, visit vforvictory.org.

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