July Gratitude 2017

Since turning 50 this past fall, I’ve started to pay a lot more attention to my spending habits. By spending habits, I’m not talking about making better financial decisions (sticking to a budget has never been my thing), I’m talking about making better time decisions. If I spend my money foolishly (which I often do), I can make more. If I buy something poorly made, I can usually return it for a full refund. Time doesn’t work like this. I can’t make more and there is no refund and return policy. They say (whoever “they” is) that time is money. It is not. Time is far more precious.

We’ve been spending our time wisely these days at the Life is Good Playmakers. We invite you to see for yourself by taking a look at a special issue of our monthly newsletter that we created (We call it our Midyear Gratitude Report) to reflect back on the first half of the year and say thank you for your on-going support.

Together we continue to spread the power of optimism to help children heal from the trauma of poverty, violence and illness. I can’t think of a more important way to spend our precious time.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Love & Peace,

Steve Gross, MSW
Chief Playmaker, Life is Good Playmakers

GRATEFUL FOR PROGRESS

It Takes a Village

The LiGP regularly partners with childcare organizations to improve the quality of health, education and enrichment services delivered to children whose lives have been deeply impacted by poverty, violence, and illness. This year we’ve expanded our work to include town-wide and neighborhood collaborations in South Boston and Newtown, Connecticut. In S. Boston we’ve partnered with 35 neighborhood childhood health and wellness non-profits to help them collaboratively create optimal environments for children to connect, engage and explore. In Newtown we’ve partnered with local leaders in education, enrichment and law enforcement to help them build more joyful, engaging and connective experiences for their children and their community.

Life Changing Relationships

Connection has always (and will always) remain at the core of our work. Science tells us (just look at the Harvard Study on Adult Development) that the quality of one’s life is in direct proportion to the quality of one’s relationships. The LiGP strives to make meaningful connections with EVERY childcare professional that we invest in, and those professionals (that we call Playmakers) establish life-changing relationships with the children in their care. 2017 has already marked a year of strengthening ALL of these connections and relationships through the expansion of our 303 Phase. Through the 303 The LiGP creates a core internal team of Playmakers at our partner organizations to nurture seeds of optimism on site and sustain optimistic environments for the children in their care and the professionals who care for them.

Life is Good Learning Experience

Projected to launch by early spring of next year, the LiGP is approaching the final stages of our research and development phase for the digital Life is Good Learning Experience – a multi-unit, self-paced, peer-to-peer online course designed to support tens of thousands of childcare professionals simultaneously. The Experience will further help childcare professionals hone their disposition and discover ways to continually bring more fun, love, gratitude, compassion, openness, authenticity, and creativity into their care-settings. We’ll be sending you a preview in the coming months. We promise, it’s totally worth the wait!

GRATEFUL FOR GROWTH

Underwriting & Partnerships

Since the first of the year corporate underwriting for our partnerships with child care organizations, along with unique product partnerships have raised $402,263.57 for our mission to spread the power of optimism to help kids heal. This extraordinary level of support would not have happened without the renewed generosity from the TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation, ALEX AND ANI’s Charity by Design, MetroWest Subaru, Rue La La, and Designer’s Choice.

Events & Gatherings

We love to get together – and we love it even more when great gatherings support a really great cause. Through our Tavern Series concerts and performances at our Life is Good headquarters, along with conferences and fundraisers across the country thousands of passionate supporters have raised $320,202.76 through events and gatherings so far this year. Major shout-out to Citrix, Gartner, SAP, ASUG, and Citizens Bank for helping us get this far.

Individuals

Nearly every single day the LiGP receives generous contributions from individuals all over the world who simply want to invest in the good growth of others. On average, more than 800 Life is Good online shoppers add a LiGP tax-deductible contribution to their shopping cart each month. Throughout the year thousands more click the “Donate” button on our homepage. Since January 1, 2017 individuals have collectively given $72,742.97 to support our mission. So whether you can give $10 a month, $1 a day, or upwards of $1000 a year, it all adds up to positive change.