During Jessie’s 10 month fight with two inoperable brain tumors, she selflessly chose to give the gift of JoyJars® to kids fighting cancer around the globe. Jessie had a vision to make a difference in the lives of kids fighting cancer just like her and, she knew Courageous Kids needed to be encouraged to Never Ever Give Up!
In the past seven years, the Jessie Rees Foundation has changed countless lives by delivering more than 260,000 JoyJars®, providing every day encouragement with the iNEGU app for Courageous Kids, and helps create priceless memories for their families.
We are excited to celebrate what would have been Jessie’s 20th birthday on April 8th! Honoring her legacy, a special JoyJar stuffing event was held at the JoyFactory on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6.
20 groups visited the JoyFactory and stuffed 2,000 JoyJars for kids fighting cancer over a total of 20 hours! The groups experienced a celebratory occasion with birthday balloons and cupcakes (a Jessie favorite)!
In celebration of Jessie’s 20th birthday, the Rees Family helped to create special edition JoyJars filled with 20 fun items selected by the family. Erik, Jessie’s Daddy chose the whoopee cushion as it reminded him of Jessie’s belly laugh, and Stacey, Jessie’s Mommy chose brightly colored beach balls to put in the jar as Jessie loved the beach! Jessie’s brother JT selected rubber ducks because Jessie made sure a rubber duck went into every JoyJar she stuffed and Shaya, Jessie’s big sister has chose mini card games to place in the JoyJars, as Jessie loved all things miniature! These jars were so fun and filled with love and joy!
All who participated were so excited to celebrate Jessie’s birthday and the amazing legacy she has left the NEGU Nation!