Hello from Lisa, Soaringwords News, SoaringStar, SoaringHealth & Wellness, Be in Touch
Soaringwords
Dear <<First Name>>:

A few months ago, Joshua and I completed the college visit road trip in his quest to decide where he will spend the next four years. Just this week, he logged onto his computer and discovered that he was accepted to Emory University, early decision. We are so thrilled as he prepares to embark on this exciting new chapter. Speaking of parental pride, on December 4, my oldest son Jonathan chaired the first-ever Soaringwords Soiree. The event was fun and cool with a live jazz trio and great people. I am so proud of both of my sons who have blossomed into caring and compassionate young men.

Wishing you and your family the joy of appreciating that the best things in life are the gifts we give and get straight from the heart. 

Sending you strength and Soaringwords,
Lisa

T.646-674-7105, C.917-499-3783, lisa@soaringwords.org


 

Soaringwords News

Recent cool Soaringwords events.
 

Soaringwords Soiree

On December 4, we lit up Basketball City with a celebration as we kicked off the first-ever Soaringwords Soiree. Special thanks to the amazing Young Leadership committee: Liron Azrielant, Adam Bluzvern, Matt Comite, Alex Elman, Adam Gitlin, Randy Goldstein, Suzanna Grobman, Amanda Katz, Andrew Kisch, Alexandra Lebovits, Sharon Mirsky, Maya Rubin, Neve Rubino and Jenna Rutchik.  
 
We were happy to honor Carolin Fermin, Volunteers for Good Program Manager at New York Life Insurance. She's featured below in this month's SoaringSpotlight. 

The soiree was a great success with live jazz, delicious wine and beer from Lost Tribes Brewery, yummy cupcakes from Baked by Melissa, and lots of amazing VIP raffle prizes. MORE PHOTOS

National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC)

On Oct 28, Lisa led a Caring for Yourself as a Caregiver webinar for Program Directors and bereavement counselors who hail from NAGC's 170 hospice centers and bereavement camps. Professional Caregivers for bereaved children and families often experience Compassion Fatigue: feelings of burn-out or depletion with little time or energy left for self-care. The webinar covered powerful strategies to transform stress into resilience. Some of the positive psychology interventions included:

  • The Law of the Oxygen Mask
  • Soothing All of Your Senses
  • How to Map Out Your Time in a Strategic Way
  • Using Positive Rituals to Create Boundaries and Downtime
  • You Can't Always Change or Fix the Situation but you Can Control Your Attitude

Let us know if you want to listen in on the next Soaringwords webinar on Jan. 27 where Lisa will lead a Positive Psychology Master Class. 


Zumba® Fitness  

We held several Soaringwords + Zumba® Master Classes for hospitalized children. Soaringwords is working with Zumba® Instructors around the world to bring the love of music, dance and community to hospitalized children, families and hospital professionals who care for them all year long. Contact Melissa Mace,Melissa@soaringwords.org if you work at a hospital or if you are Zumba instructor and would like to volunteer.

Special thanks to Holly Rose and Melissa Mace for a rocking Zumbathon in New Paltz, NY (photo above) and to Shahida Ansari and Sammy Salazar for leading a fearless Zumbathon in NYC and last but not least big thank you to Heather York for her high-energy Zumbathon in Milton, DE.

Join us for a fun and powerful workout on Sunday, Jan 11 at the Equinox in Armonk NY  as world famous Zumba Educational Specialists Kass Martin and Steve Boedt lead us in a Zumba Charity Mega Master Class to support Soaringwords + Zumba in hospitals! This event will sell-out, so purchase your tickets soon and bring your friends and family.Tickets

On Sunday, Jan. 18 in Philadelphia, Zumba Educational Specialists Richard Gormley, Stephanie Masceri and Ana Georgescu will kick-it into high gear to celebrate strength and movement and doing something powerful for the hospitalized children and families. This event is co-hosted by Karen Milligan and Renee Gelber. Tickets
 

Johnson & Johnson NA IT Town Hall 


What a difference a year makes! Soaringwords was delighted to be the hands-on team-building service project at the latest Town Hall meeting. This year, we wanted to build on the success of our collaboration by including all of the employees'  families in the fun. Each employee decorated a SoaringQuilt with his or her family prior to the meeting. The conference center was transformed with all of the whimsical, colorful quilts, creating a stunning and creative backdrop for the high-powered meeting. During the program, the employees enjoyed two service projects: created SoaringPuppets and also SoaringCrowns to donate to patients at St. Peter's in New Brunswick, NJ.  Angela Hoye, Zumba instructor extraordinaire led a fabulous dance celebration. Everyone was drenched in laughter and a bit of sweat!  MORE PHOTOS


Child Life Conference

 
Soaringwords was proud to exhibit at the recent Child Life Council Conference in New York City. Kudos to Maggie Hurst  for her wonderful presentation about the power of narrative medicine and advocacy. The research shows that watching, reading or listening to narratives by or about children with serious and/or chronic illnesses can enhance pediatric well-being.

Check out Soaringwords' healing interventions such as SoaringFables and SoaringHaikus which invite pediatric patients and school children and families to write stories and adventures to enhance well-being of giver and recipients alike. ACTIVITIES

SoaringSpotlight

This month we salute Carolin Fermin our first-ever honoree at the Soaringwords Soiree. As the Volunteers for Good Program Manager at New York Life, Carolin takes this job to a whole new level of passion, commitment and creativity. At monthly Soaringwords Volunteers for Good events Carolin always pulls out all of the stops with flair. For example, when we were doing the SoaringSuperheroes activity she got an enormous cut out of a superhero for everyone to pose in front of and she made a fantastic superhero movie play list that transformed the conference room into a party. She cares deeply for hospitalized children and bereaved children and inspires everyone she meets. 

 
SoaringHealth & Wellness 

When we free ourselves from setting impossibly high standards of self-perfection, our ability to accept mistakes, failures and painful emotions actually allows us to experience more happiness since we don't let the mistake or the imperfection define us and take over our life.  In his book, The Pursuit of Perfect.How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar talks about our own and society's crushing expectations. According to Ben-Shahar, the pursuit of perfection may actually be the most powerful internal obstacle to happiness. Some of the most authentic conversations with strangers, friends and people who spend lots of time in hospitals have been conversations where people are courageous enough to be vulnerable, not trying to project an image that “they’ve got it together all the time.”  When people share from this rich, authentic place of vulnerability, then everyone can feel a sense of relief, a sense of connection, and a sense of hope. Connections like this make us feel safe.

Touch Points

Take Your Child to Work Day  (Thursday April 23) will be here before you know it. Call us if you want to rock your company's day with our proven one or three hour service programs that have been enjoyed by thousands of young people at Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Cisco, Chubb, New York Life, Goldman Sachs, Horizon Media and many others. Contact greta@soaringwords.org or call us at 646-674-7105.

We are accepting applications for our Winter/Spring internship program. Email heal@soaringwords and request an internship application. College students and adults in transition are all welcome to apply.  

Order SoaringQuilts and SoaringPillows to enhance your family's celebrations, birthday parties and get-togethers.

Soaringwords' mission is to lessen the negative impact of serious illness by embracing hospitalized children, families and staff, encouraging positive health and healing. Soaringwords provides fun, creative and educational activities both in person and online based on positive psychology concepts that enhance well-being in the midst of illness. Soaringwords is unique because it is the only organization that motivates ill children and their families to "pay it forward" which fosters altruism, reciprocity, empathy, well-being and resilience. 

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Send us an email heal@soaringwords.org
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