Who We Are
Project Joy and Hope exists to enhance the quality of life of children and families who live with life-limiting conditions. We are based in the greater Houston-Galveston area but serve as an advisor and model for similar programs throughout Texas and the United States. Project Joy and Hope serves as the parent agency for the Texas Pediatric Palliative Care Consortium.
The mission of Project Joy and Hope is to promote the physical and psychological well-being of children with life-limiting conditions and to help their families through community awareness, education, program development and resource development.
Project Joy and Hope is the result of a vision of Dr. Jan Wheeler, educator, inspirational speaker and author. Jan envisioned this helping agency during her own daughter’s battle with Ewing’s sarcoma. She saw PJ&H as a way to support other parents and children during their journey with life limiting illness. Jan’s daughter Valerie Grace Wheeler died in 1999. As a mother and an educator, Jan dedicated her life’s work to her daughter’s memory and started Project Joy and Hope. To read more about this journey, click here.
The organization will soon celebrate its 17th anniversary and is moving into the future with programs and accomplishments such as these:
- HOPE Housing – a "home away from home" for children who have undergone a transplant or who need hospice care. PJ&H operates numerous HOPE HOUSES in the Houston area and is building an apartment community on Tulip Street near Beltway 8 to expand our program.
- Family Assistance Grant Fund – helping families throughout Texas whose children require ongoing treatment for serious illnesses or hospice care. The fund covers “real life needs” such as out-of-pocket costs for medication, hospital parking and meals, rental needs and utilities.
- Hope Scholarship Fund – provides scholarships for bereaved children. More than $600,000 has been awarded to bereaved seniors since the program’s inception.
- H.O.P.E. (Helping Our Pain Ease) – is parental bereavement support classes in a seven week series.
- Holiday Gift Program - is a way to provide holiday gifts and financial assistance for families in pediatric hospice programs.
- Classroom Bereavement Management – is a training program for teachers to help grieving students.
- 1-866-JOY-HOPE - is a toll-free parent-to-parent support line.
- Texas Pediatric Palliative Care Consortium – an alliance of palliative care professionals from pediatric hospitals and hospices throughout Texas.
