Jumping for Joy Adventure Club

We struggle with the day-to-day dilemmas of how and where to give back. We ponder new ways of giving that are not only enjoyable to us, but are also greatly beneficial others. This brings us to our latest finding of charitable givers. Enter the Joy Adventure Club (or JAC for short). Check out what Vivanista got to know about JAC’s founder, Wendy Mitchell, and the ways that JAC is changing people’s lives for the better.

Vivanista: Tell us how the Joy Adventure Club came to be.

Wendy Mitchell: The Portland-based Joy Adventure Club (JAC) is the brain child of five women spanning three generations putting fun to work for good causes. We have all worked together for many years in the women’s health field. The model for JAC came out of the 64th Mamma Mia! birthday party that I threw for myself.

V: What was the catalyst for JAC?

WM: Having been a dance major at UCLA in the 60′s, I decided I wanted to have a “little girl’s birthday party for big girls” and rented out BodyVox, a dance studio, for my Mamma Mia!-themed birthday party. 50 of my closest friends came in their rags and feather boas with food or champagne to share. We jived all night singing, “see that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen!”

V: What event kick-started the Joy Adventure Club into motion?

WM: The five of us had been getting together to create something special and unique and it just hit us – movement, food, donations, and so, “Hula for Moola” benefiting the Oregon Food Bank was born.

One JAC member, a graphic designer, created an Evite, another contacted www.hoopnotica.com, another secured the free space, another wrote copy and got us a sound system, and so it went.  We added 600 names into the Evite and pushed the button. Suddenly the day was upon us and over 50 women came with food and champagne and donations to hoop their hearts out and we left with $1,000 for the Oregon Food Bank.

V: How would you judge the success of “Hula for Moola,”, and what kind of feedback have you received from the participants?

WM: We rated our first event a raving success! We only heard high-energy positive comments. Women celebrated themselves and shared in the joy of coming together for fun and purpose.

V: How easily can this be replicated in other cities?

Tiffany Wheeler, JAC co-founder: JAC is so organic and easy. The key is forming a small and close-knit core group that leads the brainstorming and planning activities for each event. The contact lists are shared and the Evite spreads the news. The important part of this formula is that the fund-raising aspect never acts as a deterrent to entry. We keep the participation low, and remind women that 100% of what they gives goes directly to the charity. If they can’t afford to pay, we ask them to give whatever they can.

V: Vivanista has created the concept “Party with a Purpose,” providing structure for members to host in-home parties with some sort of fun or educational purpose and their guests make a nominal donation to a charity to attend; very similar to what the JAC is doing. Any other similarities you see?

Margaret Fivecrows, JAC co-founder: It reminds me of Margaret Mead’s quote “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” It does sound similar…and wonderful.

Poised to present their next big gig on October 3rd, “Bellydancing for Bucks” benefiting Sisters Of The Road, Joy Adventure Club is on the move with no signs of stopping in the near future. JAC’s extreme desire to see women all over the country create a club for fun, movement, food and philanthropy is not only inspiring, but easy to attain. Click here for our easy steps on how to replicate Joy Adventure Club’s philanthropic events.

[Photo from Tony the misfit via Flickr]