Jarrett Myner began raising money to distribute new toys each week to young patients at a children’s hospital. He wanted to bring them a little happiness and excitement and let them know someone cares about them. Jarrett understood many of their feelings, since he had spent a great deal of time in the hospital, having been diagnosed with cancer five times during the previous nine years. While undergoing his first bone marrow transplant at a Seattle hospital, Jarrett received a toy from a group of adult volunteers. “I remember how good it felt to realize that someone who didn’t even know me was thinking of me during my hospital stay,” he explained. 

So, in the summer of 1998, he decided to start Jarrett’s Joy Cart, a weekly toy distribution at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center. He wrote a business plan and approached the hospital board for approval. He then solicited donors, developed toy lists, obtained community endorsements, opened a bank account, and invited the media to a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “All of the patients benefit by having something to look forward to, knowing that someone cares about them,” Jarrett explained. “And they get a new toy of their choice to help pass the time in the hospital.”

It wasn’t long afterwards that Jarrett was featured on many television programs. By the time he was 11 years old and a sixth grader at West Jessamine Middle School, Jarrett raised more than $18,000 for toys. His work earned him The Prudential Spirit of Community Award honoring America’s Top Ten Youth Volunteers for the year 2000.
(Nicholasville, Kentucky: 1998)
Story Courtesy of Prudential Spirit of Community Awards (2000)