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Spreading ‘Joy to the Kids’

Mary Stachyra Lopez | Catholic Herald

Founder of Joy to the Kids Rachel Gray (at right), wearing her “Princess Sunshine” dress, helps Connor Beekhuis, 3, choose a Batman sticker.

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A mountain of toys, tiaras and crayons for the Catholic Herald’s 2014 “Nominate a Charity” contest.

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Wearing a golden tiara and a bright yellow ball gown flowing
down to her toes, Rachel Gray opened the door of a patient’s
room at Inova Children’s Hospital in Fairfax and peeked
inside.

“Are you up for a princess visit?” she asked the young
patient.

Ashley Matamoros, 12, nodded curiously, so Gray – or
“Princess Sunshine” – opened the door wider and began her
song: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…”

Gray is the founder of Joy to the Kids, a
nonprofit that brings some fun to the lives of children in
hospitals through visits from costumed superheroes and
princesses. Joy to the Kids was the winner of the
Catholic Herald’s 2014 “Nominate a Charity” contest
. In
the spirit of the Christmas season, Catholic Herald staff
members chose Joy to the Kids from a number of
reader-nominated charities. As the winner, Joy to the Kids
received coloring books, crayons, journals, fairy wings,
Disney Princess Barbie dolls and other donations from the
Catholic Herald staff.

On a recent visit to the hospital, Gray made the rounds to
about half a dozen rooms, singing songs and asking the young
patients questions about themselves. When Ashley said she
missed being in school, Gray pulled out a wand.

“This is a magic wand, but it’s not just any magic wand,”
said Gray. “It’s a pen. So you can do all the homework you’re
missing.”

She handed Ashley a journal. “It’s not just any journal,”
said Gray. “Because it’s what I call a joy journal. You can
only write things that make you super happy in it.”

The idea behind the journals goes hand-in-hand with the idea
behind Joy to the Kids. Patients, especially kids, need
something to think about besides the hospital and the
treatments ahead of them. While making visits dressed as a
princess or a superhero is fun, Gray said that she wants to
“give them just a little bit of joy to hold onto” after she’s
gone, too. She hopes the “joy journals” fill that gap.

Gray, who is also a professional actress, first came up with
the idea for Joy to the Kids while working with a party
company. A young girl’s birthday party had been delayed
because she was sick in the hospital. The girl told her that
while she was in the hospital, the one thing that she wanted
was a princess party. “I thought, ‘Well, gosh, I could have
done that,'” Gray said.

It took Gray a year to act on the idea, though. “I thought it
would be too emotional,” she said. “I cry at commercials.”

During the fall of 2013, Gray reached out to the staff at
Inova Children’s Hospital, who embraced the idea. By May
2014, she had gone through the legal process of incorporating
Joy to the Kids as a nonprofit.

“One visit and I was completely hooked,” she said.

As it turned out, the young patients “were so happy to see me
I didn’t have time to be sad,” she said.

Gray, who is the primary volunteer entertainer for Joy to the
Kids, also occasionally has enlisted other performers,
sometimes dressed as superheroes, to come with her during the
hospital visits.

Having a visit from a costumed character can be “a magical
experience” for some kids, said Christine Comer, a volunteer
chaplain at Inova Children’s Hospital and a parishioner of
Our Lady, Queen of Peace Church in Arlington.

“Kids are kids. Even when they’re sick, they just want to
play,” she said.

Gray tries to give them an opportunity to use their
imagination during her brief visits, such as during the 15
minutes or so she spent with Ashley. At the end of the visit,
Princess Sunshine sang a “healing” song, put a hand on
Ashley’s head and dubbed her “a princess.”

Stachyra Lopez can be reached at
[email protected].

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