Every Holiday Season Friends of JJ teams up with schools, businesses and organizations to collect presents for children and families spending their holiday season at a hospital. Throughout the festive time of year, with the help of our amazing volunteers, we pick up and deliver toys and gift cards to 25+ hospitals across NJ, NY & PA. Brenna, Chris and their family personally visit with hundreds of pediatric patients throughout the season and a few lucky families might even get a visit from Santa Claus! We have also loved hosting a Pop-Up-Shop at a local hospital or two each season where the patients and their families can find a fun way to shop for all their holiday gifts without leaving the hospital. The amount of smiles we are able to bring during the holiday season with these initiatives is incredible and we wouldn’t be able to accomplish them without the generosity of our donors and volunteers to reach hospitals in and beyond our community.

As 2020 brought about changes to everyday life, Friends of JJ quickly pioneered initiatives to reach families in a safe and loving manner. Our Smile Boxes are a way for our organization to help families with sick children in a time when face to face outreach isn’t always the most beneficial or feasible way to lend a hand. Every month, Friends of JJ finds children and families in need in the local community, through friendly referrals, on social media, etc. and curates personalized gift boxes that would best suit their needs. We have filled boxes with toys, gift cards, grocery store cards, video games, backpacks, fun items and other essentials that help to alleviate some of the burden of having a child suffering from a pediatric disease. This has become one of our favorite and most impactful ways to reach out to local families and we look forward to expanding the scope of our Smile Boxes as our presence and the unyielding support of our benefactors grows.

If you know a child in need of a Smile Box, please send us their story and contact information.

We love visiting with and providing comfort for children in person when we can, but we have also found ways to support them when we can’t. Our tablet donation program has provided hospitals with a way to distract children undergoing frightening or painful procedures with a tv show, movie, or game to take their mind off of the amazing but sometimes scary work of the nurses and doctors. As of 2020, we have been able to donate 50+ tablets, kid proof cases and screen protectors to Child Life Teams at our hospitals. Through the amazing generosity of our supporters of this initiative, we know we have made these procedures a little more enjoyable for the children. This is a program we continuously run through our Amazon Wish List and we look forward to helping more hospitals with these devices when we can.

Every Spring, Friends of JJ hosts Ladies Night Out- an evening when we invite our friends to shop, sip and support at a curated bazaar featuring local boutiques, businesses and live entertainment to raise money for our cause. Traditionally, we host over 100 benefactors for a night filled with great shopping, gift baskets and delicious food & drinks. The annual raffle held at this event includes items from stores, spas, restaurants throughout Monmouth County and even designer handbags! We are grateful for our returning sponsors, donors and attendees who make this one of our favorite annual events and look forward to continuing this tradition!

Friends of JJ brings Spring Smiles directly to pediatric patients at local hospitals. This is a great time of year to collect and distribute activity books, coloring books, arts & crafts, and small toys. Annually we fill over 50 Easter baskets for patients ages newborn to teen. We are so grateful to our community for their support in filling these baskets. We utilize our Amazon Wish List during the Springtime to allow our supporters an easy way to give.

Friends of JJ brings the Halloween fun directly to the hospital! To help children and families partake in the spookiest of seasons, Friends of JJ sends costumes and gifts to hospitals across NJ, NY and PA. An annual Halloween party takes place for the patients and families at St. Peter’s University Hospital where the children are thrilled to receive a special visit from their favorite Princess or Superhero. To make the evening extra special, each patient and their siblings pick out their own Halloween costume and gift, letting them have the full Halloween experience right from the pediatric floor.

In addition to lifting up and inspiring the children of Friends of JJ, we find it is important that we bring hope to the moms, dads, and caretakers who fight alongside their children every day. We deliver personalized kits for these individuals, with toiletries, goodies, and an inspirational items. We think it is important to support the amazing and inspiring people behind the pediatric patients.

Friends of JJ loves celebrating Birthdays. These days are an extra special milestone for a child with a pediatric illness. We have teamed up with Card in The Garden, a New Jersey based company that supplies custom Birthday lawn signs. When a parent or caretaker writes to us about an upcoming birthday, we can offer Birthday Signs for children in New Jersey or a special Birthday Smile Box if the child lives out of state. When we can provide a sign, we ask for the child’s interests and favorite colors. The signs are a truly magical surprise.

In collaboration with Kimisis Tis Theotokou Greek Church community we collect and distribute comfortable and warm clothing for pediatric patients to use during their long-term hospital stays. Pediatric illness is very difficult emotionally and financially. It is unfortunate that these children need to be in the hospital for extended lengths of time. The clothing collected helps by making their lives as comfortable as possible. This collection will take place annually during the month of December.