2012 has been an amazing year for The Joy Team. In January we started The Junior Joy Team to help children ages 5-12 to discover the warmth of spreading joy and building community. With hand-drawn notes of appreciation in Happy Packets the kids assembled themselves, The Junior Joy Team started by spreading joy to Vancouver City Hall. After partnering with Hough Elementary School to do a monthly program, together the 300 students of Hough and The Junior Joy Team spread joy, optimism and inspiration to the Vancouver Police Department, school bus drivers, and the Humane Society. Just days before Christmas we hung over 350 happy thoughts on Main Street and in Esther Short Park in a Random Words of Kindness parade.

For Words Matter Week, The Junior Joy Team kids and their friends starred in a video about the power and meaning of words. In this feel-good video, the kids emphasized the influence words have over us from various locations in the new Fort Vancouver Library where words are plentiful and intended to be mindfully consumed.

In May we waved positive messages over I-5 to bring smiles to thousands of commuters during rush hour traffic.

For the second annual Chalk the Walks we involved over 450 people in spreading positive messages in 4 countries (Australia, Canada, Norway and US) and at least 36 U.S. states on August 21st using sidewalk chalk. The Joy Team and other community members, including Mayor Tim Leavitt and Representative Jim Moeller, chalked Main Street in Uptown Village, Vancouver.

In August we started the PB & JOY Project to provide food for body and soul to hungry kids. 1 in 4 children in Clark County are living in food insecurity; which is higher than the national average of 1 in 5. We put The Junior Joy Team’s positive messages on labels generously donated by Taylor Made Labels of Lake Oswego, Oregon. The kids have gathered each month to wrap jars of donated peanut butter with their inspiring messages since August. We take the joy-wrapped jars  to Share for the Backpack Program, which sends backpacks of food home each Friday with school-age kids in Clark County who wouldn’t otherwise eat on the weekend. As of December 2012, over 1,100 jars of PB & JOY have gone home with kids in need, and over 700 more jars are ready and waiting for the first of the year. Our goal is to provide 1,300 18-oz plastic jars of peanut butter wrapped in positive messages every month.

In September our 501c3 designation was granted from the IRS, making all donations to The Joy Team tax deductible  Special thanks to Board Member Carol McKeag for donating her time and services for this accomplishment.

Science finds more evidence every day that being happy and having a positive outlook improves our physical and mental health, makes us live longer, build stronger relationships and live more abundant, successful lives. Joy matters.  Not just for us individually, but as a society, as well.

Please join us in our mission of building community through spreading joy, optimism and inspiration by making a tax deductible donation to The Joy Team. You can donate online at TheJoyTeam.org or mail a check to The Joy Team, 3012 NE 43rd Street, Vancouver, WA 98663.

Thank you, for all YOU do to make the world a happy place. We wish you, our community and the whole world much joy, love and laughter.

Join our Random Words of Kindness Parade!

The Junior Joy Team, Hough Elementary’s Leadership Team, all their students and YOU are invited to join us Thursday, December 20th.

Random words of kindness and joy drawn by the kids of Hough Elementary and The Junior Joy Team will be hung on trees down Main Street and in Esther Short Park in Vancouver just days before Christmas on the morning of December 20th. Words and phrases like joy, love, smile, love yourself, shine bright, and more drawn on stars, circles and gingerbread men will be joyfully hung on tress by Junior Joy Team kids and Hough Elementary students in a parade of kindness, love and joy.

Every month Hough students focus on a character trait and work on emulating it throughout the month. December’s character trait is kindness.  After an assembly on December 10th focused on the power of kind words and acts, kids were given cut-outs to adorn with words of kindness, joy and love. The ornaments are laminated and will be offered as gifts of the season to any who find them.

We’re meeting at Hough in Vancouver at 10:00 am Thursday and will begin our route down Main Street, making our way to Esther Short Park.

After the Random Words of Kindness parade culminates at the park, The Junior Joy Team will head to Umpqua Bank on the edge of the park to wrap hundreds of jars of peanut butter in joyful messages as part of the PB & JOY Project. Umpqua Bank will have cocoa and snacks for the kids after the parade and assist in wrapping peanut butter jars–many of which the bank has collected. The jars of PB & JOY will be given to Share to go in their Backpack Program; which sustains children living in food insecurity in Clark County schools.

The need to shift our thoughts, words and actions to those of kindness, joy and love only seems to grow.  Our partnership with Hough Elementary and their 300 kids is a great way to start a positive shift in thought and deed that will ripple out farther than we can possibly know or imagine. And we’re certain it will make a difference in the lives of these children and those around them.

The Joy Team needs 1,300 jars (18 oz and plastic only) of peanut butter. And we’re going to need them every month, September through June. Here’s why.

25.4% of kids in Clark County live in food insecurity. Which is higher than the national average of 21.6% of kids, according to Feeding America. Through a new program launching this month called PB & JOY Project, The Joy Team is combining the inexpensive, no refrigeration or preparation needed nourishment of peanut butter with the positive message these—and ALL—kids need for emotional development.

Special labels covered with affirming, optimistic messages, all drawn by members of The Junior Joy Team, will be wrapped around donated jars of peanut butter. The PB & JOY jars will go to Share to be included in their Backpack Program for school-age kids living in food insecurity in Clark County.

By wrapping peanut butter jars with positive, encouraging messages we’re reminding these kids of the valuable, beautiful people they are every time they see that jar. The more they see it, the more they’ll feel it. And the more they feel it, the more they’ll believe it.

Will you donate some peanut butter? Please? And will you consider adding an 18 oz plastic jar of peanut butter to your shopping list every time you go to the grocery store? It’s only $4 a jar at WinCo. That’s about the cost of a latte at Starbucks.

The Joy Team is also partnering with the Vancouver Parks and Recreation Department for donation sites for the PB & Joy Project. Unopened 18 oz plastic jars of peanut butter can be dropped in the receptacle in the lobbies of both Marshall Community Center and Firstenburg Community Center. Visit PBandJoyProject.org for a full list of drop locations or to donate online.

**Have (or know of) a business that would like to be a collection site for PB & JOY Project? Please let us know!**

PB & JOY Project is a project of The Joy Team made possible by partnering with Share, Vancouver Parks and Recreation and Taylor Made Labels, who have generously donated the labels for PB & Joy Project. All the messages on the labels are drawn by members of The Junior Joy Team (kids ages 6 – 13).

A Sidewalk Chalk Project image

The Sidewalk Chalk Project is doing some amazingly beautiful joy spreading!

Every day for over a year this woman has chalked a positive message in hopes of giving others a lift, a smile, some hope.

I found this video on their Facebook page.  I might just watch it every morning.  Starting the day with all these positive messages could do wonders.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Chalk the Walks 2012 is coming right up!  Join us on Tuesday, August 21st in this international event of spreading joy, optimism and inspiration through the magical power of positive messages and sidewalk chalk.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Join the Facebook event: Chalk the Walks 2012!
2. Chalk where ever you are (check with your city, but typically chalking is allowed on your own sidewalk, driveway or store front).
3. Take a photo of your positive message and share it with people from at least 25 states and 3 countries by posting it on the Chalk the Walks 2012 Facebook page.

If you’re in the Vancouver, Wa / Portland, Or area, join The Joy Team, The Junior Joy Team and Uptown Village Association as we spread some joy on Main Street in Vancouver, USA.  We’ll be there from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on the 21st working out of Pop Culture.  Bring the kids!

Need chalk? All 5 Vancouver Umpqua Banks are giving chalk away in their stores beginning Monday, August 13th.  Thank you Umpqua for being our Official Chalk Partner!

Welcome

• Rachel Fouts-Carrico
• Suzanne & Jeff Maddux
• ORGANIZATION Plus! Inc.

THANK YOU for helping us to spread joy, optimism and inspiration to millions!

Looking for a sign that the holiday weekend will be as wonderful as you hope for?  You’ve just found one.

And, if you happen to be driving northbound on I-5 in Portland, Oregon, today you’ll see quite a few more.

The Joy Team and The Junior Joy Team will be out spreading joy, optimism and inspiration through the power of positive words and messages. Look for us. We’ll be the ones waving yellow and white signs of joy from a pedestrian bridge.

Have a fabulous, wonder-filled long weekend.  Honk for happiness!

Spreading joy at Vancouver Police Department

Yesterday, Vancouver Police were visited by a joyful group of elementary school kids who showered Happy Packets on the West Precinct.  Heart-covered bags for every employee of the Vancouver Police Department–caringly stuffed with personalized notes of appreciation, a Hersey’s chocolate kiss, a Bit-O-Honey and a Love Your Life card from The Joy Team–were handed out, left on desks or put in mail slots.

The personalized notes were written by members of The Junior Joy Team and close to 300 elementary school children from Hough Elementary in downtown Vancouver. Hough is partnering with us to boost our efforts of spreading joy, optimism and inspiration to millions.

Can letters and drawings from kids bring smiles to people who deal with trauma and crisis on a daily basis? We’ve been told they can! Here are a few comments we’ve already received:

Thank you so much for the card from Linessa and the other kids. You all made our day when we got into work tonight. Tell the kids that the reason were out here is for them. God Bless all of you. -D.

Thank you for the great picture, the letter, and the candy. I really appreciated it! I have the picture up in my office. -D.

I work for the Police Department and missed your visit yesterday. However, I did get the gift bag with the pretty picture drawn by Ellie. Please tell her that I loved the picture and really appreciate that she took the time to make it for me. Keep up the good work! -A.

I have to tell you, it was completely our pleasure!

Want to see some of the photos from the day?  Here’s the Facebook album.

The Junior Joy Team spread joy to all 260 employees of City Hall in February and created a video about the power of positive words in March.  What will we do next? Stay tuned…

One of the heart-warming drawings from a Hough Elementary student