Community Updates

generationOn and Hasbro Launch the Joy Maker Challenge to Inspire Youth to Spread Kindness This Holiday Season

generationOn, the youth service division of Points of Light, and Hasbro, Inc. have partnered for the seventh annual Joy Maker Challenge, which encourages youth to engage in meaningful, hands-on service projects and spread joy and kindness through volunteerism during the holiday season. For every kid and teen who participates in the Joy Maker Challenge, Hasbro will donate a toy or game to Toys for Tots, up to $1 million worth.

Published 8 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Launching today and running through December 23, teens, teachers, parents and youth development professionals can register, find service project ideas, and share their stories of service on the Joy Maker Challenge website. The Joy Maker Challenge is a part of Hasbro’s ongoing BE FEARLESS BE KIND initiative, which inspires and empowers kids to have the empathy, compassion and courage to stand up for others and be inclusive throughout their lives.

generationOn has selected 100 Kindness Ambassadors, who will work to spread joy and kindness nationwide, and will be equipped with 100 Hasbro toys and games each to bring holiday joy to children in need through a range of projects like:

Violet Humble of Spokane Valley, Washington, is hosting a party for children from local transition homes, foster homes and shelters who often are not included and do not get to attend parties. In addition to spending time together, playing games and enjoying food, she will be surprising them with gifts for attending, as well as goodie bags.
Xolo Maridueña will host a service project with kids on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Children will come to a fun holiday event where they will write letters to residents of local senior centers. After completing the project, the kids will be able to pick out a wrapped toy to go home with.
Renee Lynn Scott of Eastport, New York, will work with youth volunteers to make special cards for children of cancer patients. They will then work with Survivor’s Little Helper to deliver Christmas trees, toys and cards to families to help alleviate the emotional and financial burden holidays can have when parents are battling cancer.

“We are thrilled to partner with Hasbro for the seventh year of the Joy Maker Challenge and get more young people engaged in service,” said Delores Morton, executive director of generationOn. “Our goal is for youth to become more caring, compassionate and capable through service, which includes spreading joy during the holiday season as well as continuing to be involved throughout the year.”

Since the Joy Maker Challenge campaign started in 2010, nearly 865,000 total acts of service have been completed by youth worldwide, generating $6 million of toys and games donated to Toys for Tots by Hasbro.

“At Hasbro, we’re committed to making sure kids have access to opportunities to serve others, become more empathetic and show kindness to others,” said Karen Davis, senior vice president of global philanthropy and social impact at Hasbro. “We’re proud to team up with generationOn to host the Joy Maker Challenge and help kids and teens make their mark on the world by putting their empathy into action.”

To learn more about the Joy Maker Challenge, please visit generationOn.org/joymaker. You can also follow both @generationOn and @Hasbro on Twitter and search #JoyMaker or #BFBK to join the conversation online.