Jessie Rees was only 12 years old when she was diagnosed with brain cancer. Despite a heavy schedule of doctors visits, treatments, and hospital stays Jessie fought hard against the illness that would eventually take her life.
One day, when she was in the hospital cancer ward with other kids her age, she asked her mom, “what can we do to help cheer up these kids?”
She immediately went home and started creating packages of little toys and trinkets that she could leave with all children. The “Joy Jars” were such a big hit that she made more. The family kitchen was overrun with plastic jars and little toys and stuffed animals in a production line.
Jessie lost her fight with cancer but her memory lives on. Today the Jessie Rees Foundation distributes Joy Jars to children’s cancer wards throughout the country.