Former Saddleback pastor offers JoyJars to cancer-stricken kids in memory of deceased daughter

Former Saddleback Church pastor Erik Rees together with his wife and two other children continue to give out JoyJars to cancer-stricken kids in remembrance of the efforts started by the pastor's 12-year-old daughter, Jessie, who died of the same disease.

"We're trying to let the entire family know that they're not alone and that we care about them — and that we're cheering for them to never, ever give up," Rees told Christian Examiner about what the JoyJar is all about.

JoyJars represent the Jessie Rees Foundation which started nearly five years ago after Jessie's diagnosis of brain cancer and four years since her death on Jan. 5, 2012. The foundation serves as a support group for families and children battling with cancer through what Rees refers as "regular doses of hope, joy, and love." He said the doses can be anything from a postcard to a family fun pack.

In the book Never Ever Give Up, Rees recounted the inspiring story of how Jessie came up with the idea of handing out JoyJars to patients at the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) where Jessie was an outpatient for ten months and two days.

"We had to educate her that there are kids fighting cancer that have different diagnoses than hers and some of them stay days, some stay weeks, some stay months and, unfortunately, some of the Leukemia kids can stay over a year," Rees recalled.

"How can we help?" Jessie asked the simple question that led to the creation of JoyJars.

"They gave us something tangible to do beyond just dwelling on blood scans and medications and scary side effects all day," the pastor shared as he thought about the early days of JoyJars.

After Jessie's passing, Rees sat down for a serious discussion with his wife, Stacey, and their two other children, J.T. and Shayla, on whether they wanted to continue JoyJars or not. Shayla's reminder of Jessie's motto to never ever give up sealed the family's conversation and made them decide to commit to what Jessie had started.

The Jessie Reese Foundation is now working with more than 250 children's hospitals worldwide and has distributed more than 123,000 JoyJars to kids in each state in the U.S. and to 30 other countries.