March Newsball 2017
Playing Catch-Up with the Life is Good Playmakers
Last month The Life is Good Playmakers (LiGP) honored a remarkable number of powerful, positive deeds.
Small acts of compassion that have the power to change the trajectory of a lifetime.
We rallied more than 5,000 physical education and health & wellness educators with Shape America.
Empowered rockstar Playmakers at Children’s Hospitals of Minnesota to become local leaders of this movement to help kids heal.
Celebrated the resiliency and determination of our teachers with New England Patriot, and children’s book author, Malcolm Mitchell.
Shared a story about the commitment of two parents to turn their scientific backgrounds and everlasting grief into a positive change.
A lot was done and shared, and thanks to you, there’s more good to come.
Love & Peace,
Steve Gross, MSW
Chief Playmaker, Life is Good Playmakers
GOOD PROGRESS
Our Work in the Field
On March 15, The LiGP helped more than 5,000 teachers, coaches, and educators recognize the power of their own optimism with our partner Shape America.
On March 19, Minnesota’s Star Tribune published an in-depth article on how PICA, one of our country’s most respected Head Start programs and Children’s Hospitals of Minnesota, have come together to help kids heal thanks to partnerships that both organizations continue to grow through The LiGP.
On March 31, LiGKF Founder & Chief Playmaker was invited by Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance to speak to the devastating impact of chronic, toxic stress on our kids – and the critical importance that those who care for them foster optimism and build what The LiGP calls, O’Playsis.
GOOD GROWTH
Our Work to Raise Support
Thank you to Boston Software for launching our Small Business Big Impact Matching Grant Program – just in time to support our 2017 Boston Marathon Team.
On March 20, 150 teachers and childcare professionals (those we call, Playmakers) gathered at the Life is Good Tavern for a Teachers’ Night Out with New England Patriot Malcolm Mitchell. Read the ESPN coverage and see the photos.
This month Life is Good launched their annual Kids Art Contest, where the best artists (as far as we’re concerned) tell the world why they believe that Life is Good. Every entry earns a $1 to support the mission of The LiGP!
GOOD PEOPLE
Our Playmakers
Jeremy Richman and Jennifer Hensel are scientists who are using their unique backgrounds and everlasting grief to fuel a positive change.
The Life is Good Playmakers are honored to share their story as our first Everyday Hero feature.
Jeremy Richman was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado and earned his undergraduate degree and PhD in Tucson, Arizona. That’s where he and Jennifer met under the most romantic setting: a class called, Recombinant DNA Methods and Techniques.
Jeremy and Jennifer are scientists. Early on, his research focused on Alzheimer’s, and hers focused on cancer.
As their relationship developed they evolved from classmates, to friends, to partners, to parents. By the time their daughter Avielle was born in 2006, they were living and working in San Diego, and before Avielle was old enough to start school, Jeremy and Jennifer were given an opportunity to embark on some exciting research on the east coast.
The family settled in to their new home in Newtown, Connecticut, and Avielle was enrolled at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
On December 14, 2012 Avielle was murdered in her first grade classroom with 19 of her classmates and six of her teachers and administrators.
This is the part when many (if not most) of us will start to cry, or look away, or close our eyes, or say (aloud or in our heads), “I can’t imagine.”
But, as scientists (and more importantly, as Avielle’s parents), Jeremy and Jennifer believe that we all can and should imagine.
Three days after Avielle’s murder, Jeremy and Jennifer decided to use their unique scientific backgrounds, and what they knew would be everlasting grief to fuel a positive change.
They started the Avielle Foundation to work to prevent violence and build compassion through research and community education.
As Jeremy says:
It’s not the size of our brains that make us human – it’s the mass of our neocortex.
The neocortex is the part of our brain that allows us to engage in conscious thought, understand where we are, and use our senses. It’s what makes it possible for us to converse and connect – to dream and imagine.
Humans are unique in that our neocortex makes up 76% of our brain matter.
Jeremy, Jennifer, and The Avielle Foundation strive through research and science to better understand the conditions that individuals and communities can create to foster better brain health and grow our capacities for empathy and compassion.
They believe that by allowing ourselves to even momentarily imagine bearing the unbearable, that we have a stronger sense of compassion and are compelled to take action to make the world better. On the lighter side of the imagination tunnel – it is this imagination that sets us free to make tomorrow brighter, more colorful, and better than today – this is where optimism comes from.
The Avielle Foundation is one of many organizations that The Life is Good Kids Foundation has partnered with to help Newtown, Connecticut continue to heal. More importantly we are working with The Avielle Foundation to prevent violence and build compassion and optimism on a national scale. You can learn about their work and their on-going heroic acts of optimism on their Website: http://www.aviellefoundation.org.
We are grateful to Jeremy, Jennifer, and The Avielle Foundation for allowing The LiGKF to share their story as our very first Everyday Hero feature.
Sue Lena has devoted her entire career to helping kids; many of whom have been faced with some of life’s most unfair challenges.
Sue is a teacher, a Playmaker, and someone who grows the good for kids in ne
GOOD NEWS
Highlioghts & Updates
The LiGP Program & Research Team has been building an updated Playmaker Resource Hub. It’s a collection of original and curated content to help childcare professionals build optimal environments in a variety of educational, medical, and enrichment settings. The LiGP Resource Hub will go live early this spring!
To date, every childcare professional who has engaged with The LiGP’s Program, has done so through a live in-person workshop or retreat. But, when organizations like Shape America ask how they can deliver the Playmaker Program to more than 70,000 childcare professionals – we say: go digital. So, for the past year The LiGP Program Team has been crafting curriculum to gameify our arts, soul, and science approach to childcare. Sneak peeks of The LiGP Digital Learning Experience will be released later this year.
As part of The LiGP’s on-going partnership with Teammates for Kids (the non-profit headed by country superstar, Garth Brooks), The LiGP traveled to Children’s Hospitals of Minnesota to deliver an advanced Playmaker retreat. This retreat was for the professionals who operate the hospital’s Teammates for Kids Child-Life Zone. These Zones are state-of-the-art, therapeutic play areas inside hospitals where pediatric patients and their families can play, learn, laugh, and relax.
Within the next few weeks, our floral partner, Designer’s Choice will launch a special Life is Good Bouquet that you can order directly from Amazon. The LiG bouquet can be shipped to anyone that could use some good vibes. Best part, 10% of every purchase will support The LiGP. Watch your email for official release!
Our friends at CREATE Boston – a celebration of art, food, cocktails and music are offering our subscribers a 20% discount off tickets to their April 7 – April 9 events. CLICK HERE and use the code: playmakers20 to access the discount.
GOT NEWS?
If you have news about a program, fundraiser, or event in support of The LiGP, let us know. We love hearing from you!
