November Newsball 2018
Playing catch-Up with the Life is Good Playmakers
During the week before Thanksgiving, I got to spend a few days in Haiti working with our team in Port-au-Prince on strengthening our impact strategy.
Although we have made a lot of progress since we began our work in Haiti, following the devastating earthquake in 2010, progress doesn’t seem to always happen fast enough for my liking. In fact, when it comes to alleviating the suffering of children, progress can’t come fast enough.
During this most recent trip, I asked Rishi – our team leader in Haiti – if we could visit a school where Gerye Jwa (the Creole word for Playmaker, which literally translates to, “Joy Warriors”) are helping kids heal, learn, and cultivate an enduring sense of optimism that is strong enough to withstand the storms of adversity that just about every Haitian child must endure.
I only expected to meet the school principal and a couple of her staff for a few minutes, but when we arrived the entire school greeted us in the courtyard to sing and share their gratitude for the work we have shared with them.
The principal told us how the work that we have done together has made a positive change throughout their school community and how she believes that this work will help nurture a new generation of Haitian citizens who possess the social and emotional capacity to improve the country. It was kind of overwhelming – in a good way.
There is still so much work that needs to be done, but it sure was nice to take a step back and celebrate some of the nearly 2,000 Gerye Jwa who help to spread the power of optimism to tens of thousands of children living in a city that has known more than its share of struggle and suffering.
Patience might just be our eleventh Superpower.
Love & Peace,
Steve Gross, MSW
Chief Playmaker, Life is Good Playmakers
GOOD PROGRESS
Our Work in the Field
Two Day Playmaker Public Retreat
The first weekend in November marked our fourth and final two-day Playmaker retreat for teachers, nurses, social workers, and other childcare providers working directly with kids who’ve suffered trauma. These two-day offerings, hosted at the Life is Good Playmakers Boston headquarters, provide the opportunity for frontline care providers to discover our signature approach, including effective environment setting and relationship building for both the kids they serve and the teams they serve with.
Ludlow Public Schools
You may remember us sharing about Steve Gross’s convocation keynote for Ludlow Public Schools back in August. Well, they came back for more! On November 6, hundreds of teachers and staff from all across the Ludlow Public School District gathered at three different sites across town to participate in a series of Playmaker 101 Workshops. These introductions to our signature approach and tools helped teachers (grades K-12) to explore what optimism really is, and how to increase their personal capacities for seeing and growing the good at work and in the world. Attendees also engaged with the science behind responsive relationships and explored activities to help them build resilience and cultivate an even more positive culture in their classrooms and schools.
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
For more than three years now, the Life is Good Playmakers Program has supported members of the Child Life Staff at Children’s Minnesota to help them create optimal spaces and places for patients to encounter more joy, connection, and engagement during their hospital stays and treatments. This month, our partnership extended to the Cancer & Blood Disorder Unit at Children’s Minnesota. Members of our facilitation team were invited to the unit’s professional development day to engage nurses and other staff with a general overview of our Playmaker philosophy, and to help share strategies for creating and sustaining greater joy even amidst the most challenging environments.
GOOD GROWTH
Our Work to Raise Support
Million Dollar Round Table
Earlier this month, Chief Playmaker, Steve Gross, delivered a keynote address at the annual regional gathering of the Million Dollar Round Table. Steve was presented with a check for $25,000 to support the Life is Good Playmakers signature Playmaker Program, and hundreds of conference attendees volunteered to pack 500 Gratitude Packages (including Life is Good tees and Dunkin’ gift cards) to send to teachers, nurses, and social workers engaged in the Playmaker program all across the country. Thank you Million Dollar Round Table!
Support our work by inviting Steve Gross to inspire your team
Black Friday
Every time you shop Life is Good online, you can make an additional gift to support the Life is Good Playmakers. Each month, thousands of optimists add anywhere from $5 to $100 donations when they purchase Life is Good products. Thanks to increased shopping on Black Friday, this month Life is Good online shoppers donated over $26,000 to support our work to help kids heal.
Thankful & Grateful
Earlier this month one of the LiGP newest board members, Molly Rambo, hosted a Thankful & Grateful Housewarming to celebrate the season of gratitude and introduce friends, colleagues, and clients to the important work of the LIGP Program. Thank you, Molly, for opening your home and your heart to spreading the power of optimism to help our most vulnerable kids at the most critical times.
For more information on the LiGP Board of Directors, contact Morgan Cirillo.
GOOD PEOPLE
Our Playmakers
Playmaker Spotlight- Trishia Zimbone-Ashe
By: Trishia Zimbone-Ashe
Maybe it’s from being born and bred in Boston, but I’ve always rooted for the underdog. Maybe it’s because I am an underdog.
I was born in Dorchester, moved at an early age, and grew up in Roslindale. My home was filled with equal parts love and suffering. When my parents were good, life was so good. When they were succumbed by depression, addiction, and overwhelming stress, the good got harder to find.
Fortunately, when the good got turned down at home, I was open to finding more of it out in the world. There were teachers and mentors who guided me. There were city summer camps and after-school programs that kept me active. There were other trusted adults who helped me establish life-long friendships and healthy relationships that gave me the tools to build my own path.
I didn’t have the exact words for it then, but those teachers and mentors and trusted, loving adults who made life-changing plays at such a critical time in my development, they were my Playmakers. Sure, they had all of the necessary skills to teach in those schools, run those camps, and offer me guidance, and I can see now, that they made such a lasting, positive difference not just because of what they did, but rather because of how they did it.
They were outstanding humans who approached me as an outstanding human, even before I could see how outstanding I might actually be.
Thanks to their unwavering guidance and support, ultimately my path ended up leading me toward the places where I could continue to do the most good:
Boston Children’s Hospital and the Life is Good Kids Foundation’s (LiGKF) Playmaker Program.
As a Child Life Specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital, I get to help kiddos and their families experience their time in the hospital as peacefully, and lovingly, and joyfully as possible. I get to bridge the gap between hospital and home.
Through the many retreats, workshops, and signature tools I’ve continued to access through the Life is Good Playmaker Program, I’ve been able to stay connected to the practices and extended childcare community that keep me grounded in my own peace, love, and joy, so that I am actually able to share and create more of these things at work and in the world.
My childhood is a living testimony that outstanding human services and outstanding care, require outstanding humans – and my work in the field is my perpetual opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding resilience, love, and humanity of every single child and family that I am honored to serve.
Statistically, I’m probably an underdog who never should have made it. But I have – and I am – because of a community. Because when circumstances overwhelmed my care at home, there were teachers, mentors, and specialists (there were Playmakers) who stepped up and provided a way for me to see, do, and be more.
I am eternally grateful for my practice and approach as a Life is Good Playmaker and for the league of other frontline Playmakers and our vast community of supporters who are humbled, happy, and honored to get behind any and every underdog.
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!
