PROJECT SPREAD JOY
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A LEADERSHIP POSITION ON THE PROJECT SPREAD JOY TEAM,
PLEASE GO TO THE
"LEADERSHIP POSITIONS" TAB
ABOUT US
Project Spread JOY is a NC non-profit organization that "Joins Older Adults and Youth" via Phone or Mail for Sharing, Caring & Laughter. At its inception, Drake Griffith had this idea after the passing of his grandmother, Nana Helen. He realized there was a monumental need for social connection among older adults. Drake Griffith reached out to two of his life-long friends, Harrison Powe and Reilly Kungl, and they started JOY together as partners.
Through high goals and hard work, the original JOY team and their successors have built Project Spread JOY into a nationwide community service venture with many impressive accomplishments to date:
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160 Teen Volunteers
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Over 7000 Letter Requests Fulfilled
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Telephone Reach out and Support for Older Adults
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70+ Pen Pals Created
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13 States Reached
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Donation Drives for Essential Hygiene and Personal Items for Seniors
Due to ongoing COVID-19 challenges, the need for social connection among older adults is greatly heightened:
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With visitation restrictions, the family and friends of many older adults in retirement communities cannot see their loved ones in person.
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With limited technical knowledge, many older adults cannot reach out and connect to people online like younger generations.
These reasons have contributed to Project Spread JOY's success.
Project Spread JOY has even farther-reaching intentions. As Drake Griffith, Project Spread JOY's founder, states:
"Project Spread JOY not only serves a positive purpose during
the current COVID-19 crisis, but it also serves to create lasting
cross-generational relationships long into the future. Being
able to build and maintain a relationship with a senior is
something that every young person should have an opportunity
to do. The amount of wisdom and and advice that be
given from older generations is limitless."
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
BRONZE TIER VOLUNTEERS
(12-17 letters)
Kenzie bullins
Emma Sexton
Zachary Sexton
Lilly FIne
Paige Keene
Makayla Ciancanelli
ZachaRy Sexton
Hanani Dona
Tariana Williams
Caroline Chestnut
Heather Duckworth
Pixi Hughett
AlexiS Krieg
Reilly Smith
Josie Navola
Katelyn Holter-Soerensen
Layne Gibson
Zoe Griffith
Kenzie Bullins
Toni WinNIker
Alexander Wu
Kennedy COx
Thomas Caffey
Brianna Colon
Melissa Remmey
Kennedy Flemiing
We are very excited to commence the start of our new season system! A season lasts three months. During those three months, we keep track of how many letters each volunteer writes. As the volunteer writes more letters, they move up in tiers. The tiers are as follows: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond. As the volunteer moves up in tiers, they gain more and more rewards!
Season 1 has been a spectacular success, with over 2,000 letters sent out during its first two months! As Project Spread JOY continues to grow in popularity, our rewards will get bigger and our volunteers will have more fun!
Due to its success, we put into place other initiatives. These include:
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Increasing your season letter total through helping your friends become volunteers
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Launching for-sale merchandise!
We will continue to expand and capitalize on Project Spread JOY's success, with many more ideas in the works!
MERCHANDISE
WE are happy to announce our BRAND NEW MERCH!
This has been in the works for a while now, and we are super excited to unveil JOY's new different types of clothing, designs, and colors as apart of our first edition of Project Spread JOY Merchandise!
If you want to check it out, just click on the button labeled "Website" and it will take you to our merchandise site.
All proceeds will go towards continuing JOY's mission of SPREADING AS MUCH JOY TO SENIORS AS POSSIBLE!