“We are bringing joy one little bag at a time,” said Joy Harmon, founder of Bringing Joy.
That’s the goal of Joy Harmon and her Naperville-based nonprofit, Bringing Joy. Over the past five years, Harmon and her group have put together more than 10,000 goodie bags with everything from gift cards to crossword puzzles for cancer patients at area hospitals.
Bringing joy to others during cancer treatment
The story of Bringing Joy started in July 2018, when Harmon was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma, a type of breast cancer.
“I went through six rounds of chemotherapy, 19 targeted infusions, multiple surgeries, and 28 sessions of radiation,” Harmon said.
During her treatment, Harmon sympathized with fellow patients who wouldn’t be able to spend Thanksgiving with their families and wanted to do something special for them.
“A cancer diagnosis is very isolating,” Harmon said. “If you don’t have a ton of support, I can only imagine how much more difficult it is. And so I just had this thought, ‘Let’s bring a little joy to them.’ I said to my husband, ‘I would like to give like 100 bags to all the patients… I’m going to do all my favorite treatment things like fuzzy socks, and self-care items,’ just things that brought me joy.”
After a successful first run, Harmon knew she wanted to keep spreading positivity with bags of joy through a nonprofit organization.
Today, Bringing Joy donates bags to 11 different area cancer centers every month.
Harmon enlists the help of her friends, family, students, and most recently, members of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Naperville, to put together the bags.
“We’ll put our business card, the $10 gift card, and the deck of cards today, and they’ll tie it with a little purple ribbon because purple is the color for all cancer,” Harmon said.
Brunch of Joy helps cancer “thrivers and survivors” connect with the community
Last year, the Naperville nonprofit hosted its first Brunch of Joy fundraiser.
“We invite breast cancer thrivers and survivors to come,” said Harmon. “They get to come and connect with one another, share their stories, just try to lift each other up… and it was absolutely amazing.”
Harmon said the fundraiser will return for a second year on Feb. 13, 2025.
Looking to the future, Harmon aims to soon have a dedicated space where Bringing Joy can operate full-time. But in the meantime, she wants cancer patients to always know…
“Someone else is thinking of them, there is a community of people out there just wanting them to know that they’re being thought of and they’re not alone,” Harmon said.
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