Joy First hopes your holidays were amazing and we just want to send a little reminder to donate before the end of the year for your tax benefit.
YOU are why these stories exist. We are in the last 5 days of fundraising for our Giving Tuesday Campaign. We have raised $700 and we would love to get to $1500 before the year ends. Can you help us raise this bar?
Please read these stories and if you are moved, the donate link is at the bottom of this email. Thank you for all the support you have given – everyone STILL says how much they needed these moments!
Some Impactful Stories from the Tour of Joy 2024
January – April 2024 – camped in Texas – with a great community. I started teaching yoga to the residents of the Enchanted Oaks RV Park and collaborating with a local dance studio. It was the first time the tour had stopped for five month in one location. What did we experience?
Life changing discussions about joy with all the residents.
Helping out with Lisa and her husband as she was declining with Alzheimer’s. Joy First brought daily music and laughter whenever possible and found out that her Vietnam husband was an incredible romantic! He loved obscure Dean Martin songs I had never heard. When Lisa was taken away as she was starting to run and suicidal (talking about running into the highway), the whole community supported her husband. After Lisa was transported hundreds of miles away and the senior care facility said “she can be let out into the street but she can’t stay here,” the community (who had a social worker living there) made sure she was returned back to the RV park and nurses would be able to visit. Again, Joy First showed up daily to help raise moods and give Lisa some love and smiles. Eventually, Alzheimer’s did take Lisa and the community was there for her husband.
In Texas, Katy BEE taught three improv dance classes, filled in on some acro and competitive dance with improv concepts, and taught improv at the local high school. She also taught yoga to a COVID survivor who had been in a coma for three months, and a cancer survivor who felt she was at a crossroad.
Also Katy BEE flew to Denver Colorado to speak about the Tour of Joy and participate with her Humor Academy Cohort at the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. She also flew to Phoenix where she traveled to Miami, AZ to offer a “clown factory” which was a lighthearted family friendly event to bring joy to many during their LOCO event. After the founder, Michael had suddenly passed away the year before, his wife and friends took the reigns valiantly and have continued to keep his vision going!
At the end of April, Joy First moved toward Arizona from Texas, stopping in San Antonio with a fellow AATH member who’s been struggling a bit. We went together to the senior center and entertained with laughter and music (Amy’s specialty and business). We sat in a park and approached strangers and to our surprise had some very reciprocal moments! It was a whirlwind in a couple of shops where there must have been 10-15 moments within a short amount of time.
Stopping in Truth or Consequences for what was meant to be a couple of days, until Katy BEE heard that there was a veterans celebration and a birthday. She was able to trade camping fees for a couple of days to be there for the celebrations. The birthday recipient was so joyful and said “I’ve never had a birthday like that before,” and the vets appreciated the clown entertainment as well.
Every time Joy First gives a longer or shorter joyful moment, people take a big sigh, and relax their shoulders, get out of their head, and reflect on why a few words of encouragement, acknowledgement and kindness meant so much and tell their story.
Finally, Joy First arrived in Miami, Arizona in May where Katy BEE has started an experiment to see if kindness can affect a small town.She offered 6 months of free yoga to the grieving widow and her community 7 days a week. Programs in schools, senior centers, and town centers have been approached and due to approaching schools, and scheduling, it has taken some time to get things scheduled. What’s amazing is the alignment that the leaders communicate that is directly in line with what they are thinking about, and Joy First is right there!
It’s December and we are still fundraising for 2024 up until December 31st. You can receive a tax deduction from your donations, as Joy First is an official 501c3 organization. The tour is not finished. However due to the nature of the support Katy BEE wanted to give the community with Michael and friends she has known for 30 years, this was a place to stop and help for awhile. She is teaching yoga at the local rec center three days a week.
The effect on the town is still in progress! There are also discussions with other towns about holding retreats, and healing sessions by collaborating with other yogis.
Katy BEE has done one (so far) “stress relief” workshop for the local mining families and we are discussing how to expand this to share with more miners.
She has planned an online program for next April “Managing Difficult Conversations” for a nearby town and Project Managers.
She is speaking again at the AATH conference next May in Charlotte North Carolina.
Keep us going for 2025! We are so grateful that you have been with us throughout these three years! As you can see, your input has a huge effect on the folks that we are impacting. YOU are the reason this is happening.
We are so grateful for our Monthly donors John and Beverly! They know that every little bit helps! 2025 will be visiting memory care units, schools, and town governments, doine surveys, and MORE! We are so grateful for all of the support you have given in the last three years! Thank you so much for being a part of this movement!
DONATE 2024 – https://www.joyfirst.org/donate/