In 2020, hospitals have become synonymous with white tents, isolation, and for many, a battlefield. For Emerson, a 13-year-old also known as Emmy, hospitals house an opportunity to bring hope, optimism, and strength to others.
Three years ago, Emmy founded Emmy’s Project, a program committed to brightening the days of sick children in local hospitals by delivering coloring and activity books along with supplies like colored pencils. Emmy’s Project was born from a desire to help those in a position she herself is familiar with.
“I’ve been in and out of the hospital for pretty much all my life. So I just wanted to give back, and since I know how it feels to just be stuck up in a room, and other kids having to be there for way longer than me, I kind of just felt bad,” she said.
Emmy highlights the complex layers of living with illness as a child.
“There’s a lot of emotional changes, but you are definitely bored cause you’re in there for a long amount of time. You’re not allowed to really have anything cause it’s really strict. I’ve been scared a lot.”
Her experience fueled her as she set out to collect as many donations as she could.
“It started off really small, with like 50 books and coloring crayons,” Emmy stated.
Soon, donations and fundraisers allowed her project to grow, but the COVID-19 pandemic this year jolted the world and her project in unexpected ways. They were suddenly no longer able to drop off donations to Valley Children’s Hospital Madera.
“This year because of COVID, it’s been so challenging, and I was so defeated. Emerson was so defeated,” Emmy’s mother, Tiffany said.
They decided to regroup and continue to explore ways to keep Emmy’s Project going. With the help of local organizations and fundraisers, donors, and one of THE MJ PROJECT’s founders, Tom, they brainstormed new ways to impact kids and are pushing through this difficult time. And after accepting donations, THE MJ PROJECT and Emmy’s Project teamed up to bulk order books and directly ship them to the hospital.
“Tom just inspired us, like we just have to look at another way to give back. And that’s what we’re doing,” Tiffany said. “This year is definitely different. We’re not getting hardly any donations right now because of life. We’re just kind of riding the waves and taking it as it comes.”
Although much of the world has changed, Emmy’s motivation has not. Most wouldn’t know that along with her project, school, and her health, Emmy balances a huge commitment to ballet, which takes up most of her week. She admits that it can be hard juggling it all, but the impact her book deliveries have on other children is why she keeps her project going.
“I definitely don’t think it’s about me. I think it’s about the sick kids, so [the project] just makes me really happy,” Emmy stated. “I love helping out.”
Her mission to bring joy through books to children in hospitals has grown immensely in the last few years with hopes of thriving even more in the future.
“I do want this to just keep growing and expanding to go further from not just Hanford…and these small areas. I want to go further out so we can get more donations for hospitals and…start going to different hospitals so I can also give other kids stuff,” Emmy said.
She hopes that people understanding her mission and motivation for Emmy’s Project, will encourage them to help her reach more children despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.
“[People] can help my project by just giving donations and spreading the word about what I’m doing,” Emmy said. “Just hear my story so, [you] understand why I’m doing this.”