JoyRx

We are thrilled to welcome Cristina Gonzalez-Avram to the JoyRx Board of Directors! 🎉 Cristina currently serves as the Director of Learning and Evaluation at the Gates Family Foundation, where she leads the foundation’s efforts in learning, evaluation, and program design. Cristina’s connection to our mission is deeply personal. Her daughter, Nora, was diagnosed with cancer at 18 months and received care at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Now in remission, Nora’s journey inspires Cristina’s commitment to making a difference through organizations like JoyRx. We are excited to have Cristina’s leadership and passion guiding us as we continue our mission of bringing joy to children and families facing serious illness. Welcome, Cristina! 💜 #JoyRx #BoardMember #Leadership #CommunityImpact

A huge shoutout to the incredible students at West Linn High School for hosting a fantastic “purple out” at their football game this month i support of JoyRx! 💜🎉 Not only did they collect about 250 toys, but they also raised $800 in cash donations — we’re beyond grateful that they chose our organization as the beneficiary of their generosity. 😊 Thank you, WLHS, for making a difference and helping us spread joy! #JoyRx #CommunitySupport #Gratitude #PurpleOut #WLHS

This year's Wonderball was a beautiful celebration of our roots: the power of joy, music, and community. Hundreds of passionate supporters and new friends joined us at the Portland Art Museum to raise over $1 million to bring more joy to children in need. 💜 - This year, we launched our first "Art for JoyRx" with JoyRx kids and artist Gary Hirsch, creating one-of-a-kind works that touched us all and alone fundraised $10,000! 🎨 - We honored Clare Hamill, our founding and current board chair, with the inaugural Purple Torch Award, celebrating her nearly 30 years of incredible impact with JoyRx. 🙌 - The night concluded with an unforgettable performance from the amazing Goapele, who also shared her joy with the kids at Randall Children's Hospital alongside our JoyRx Music Specialist. 🎶 Thank you to everyone who made this event a success — including our generous sponsors and the inspiring families who shared their stories. 🌟 Read more about Wonderball's success by clicking the link in our bio #LiveFromThe💜 #JoyRx #CelebratingCommunity #ThankYou #MakingADifference

This year I had the honor of collaborating with kids and families served by the Children's Cancer Association JoyRx to create a series of art pieces that collide #botjoy with their amazing talent. These pieces highlight both their hardship and joy felt during treatment. Last night these were auctioned at CCA's Live From the Heart celebration and raised over $9,000 for this amazing organization. What a perfect way to the spread joy!!! Thank you Fran, Lucia, Peter, Alan, Nortetta, Wolfie, and Axel for being such awesome co-creators!!

💖CUTENESS ALERT 💖 Renesmee's face lit up when her Mentor Alex brought her a special Build-A-Bear Workshop friend, and the joy continued as she eagerly explored the toy bag for more surprises. 🐻 Moments like these highlight the power of connection and joy that our mentors bring to children facing difficult health challenges. We’re so grateful for the dedicated individuals like Alex who create these incredible moments of happiness and hope. Thank you for making a difference, one smile at a time! ✨ #JoyRx #MentorshipProgram #HeartfeltStories #CreatingJoy

Last week I attended “The Future of Music and Arts in Medicine and Health” conference in Berlin, Germany, co-hosted by the International Association for Music and Medicine (IAMM) and the International Society for Arts in Medicine (ISfAM). It was an incredible week filled with plenary sesssions, keynote speakers, SIGS, emerging research, interactive arts activities, and live music. I was honored to share a poster in the category of “Innovations at the Intersection of Arts, Medicine, Health, and Technology” where I presented on my graduate research from University of Florida and JoyRx about the impacts and efficacy of virtual music programming for pediatric patients. Thanks to IAMM and ISfAM for an amazing week of learning, networking and collaborating.

🎶 We’re just one month away from the 2024 Austin City Limits Festival! To get into the spirit, we’ve curated a fun and kid-friendly playlist featuring hits from this year’s performing artists. Whether you’re prepping for the festival or looking for positive, uplifting tunes to enjoy with your family this weekend, this playlist has you covered. JoyRx is excited to be on-site, capturing special moments and content to share with all of you. Stay tuned for updates as we gear up for this unforgettable festival experience! 💜🎧 #AustinCityLimits #JoyRx https://lnkd.in/gjF_FAE8

Over nearly three decades, thousands of individuals have come together under one shared mission: to help seriously ill children across the country find joy in powerful, transformative moments of music, friendship, and nature. This year, we focused on growth — and raising the bar to meet the needs of all the children we serve through JoyRx programming. As we reflect on our last fiscal year and understand the impact pediatric cancer continues to have on families past and present, we know it’s important to keep going, to keep growing, to keep meeting every child where they are. Because music, laughter, care, and connection belong in every single child’s life. Period. 

We know that music, laughter, care, and connection belong in every single child's life. 💜 This is especially true for children and families undergoing the stress of severe illness and hospitalization. Critical illnesses can be a grueling journey for children and their families, but a little bit of joy can go along way. That's why we're setting our goals even higher with the rising demand of our services. We aim to meet the emotional needs of every seriously ill child in the United States. We aim to create equitable access to our no cost programs for all children, regardless of diagnosis, ability, language, location, age, social economic status, or ethnicity. Here's how we're doing so far: -291,593 joyful interactions, up 47% from last year -36,738 kids and teens served, up 33% from last year -4,985 volunteer hours, donated by over 260 volunteers Your support makes this possible. Inspired to get involved? Check out more stories of expansion and joy at https://www.joyrx.org/ #JoyRx #ChildrensHealth #Nonprofit #MakeADifference

Every three minutes, a child is diagnosed with cancer. During this month, Children’s Cancer Awareness Month, our focus is on raising awareness for the journey that begins with the life-altering words so many of the families we serve have heard — words of their child’s diagnosis that set them down a path of hospitals, treatments, and all the difficult things that come with facing cancer head-on. Look for us in the community this month as we work to bring awareness, honor the children and families who live this reality every day, and, as always, champion joy for all the kids we serve.