doTERRA Healing Hands for the Community

The Now I Can Foundation in Provo, Utah, provides intensive therapy for kids with various issues from cerebral palsy to brain injuries. Running on grants, insurance, and private donations, this nonprofit charity has created a facility that helps 80 to 100 children a year. The foundation also offers a three-bedroom cottage for families who come from all over the country for treatment to stay in affordable housing while their child is in therapy. Only one thing was missing—a wheelchair-accessible playground for the children and their siblings to enjoy.

The playground was a dream of Now I Can founders Joel and Tracey Christensen, whose daughter Colby was born with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. The Now I Can Foundation was born after they took Colby to Poland for more intensive physical therapy than was offered in the U.S. at the time. When the therapists in Poland worked miracles for Colby, the Christensens decided that they wanted to help children in the U.S. have better access to this kind of treatment.

To contribute to this worthy cause, the doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation donated material and provided volunteers to build the playground for the many children and their families that come to Now I Can. It took two weeks of breaking up concrete, planting grass, and installing special equipment before work was finished. But now, these kids who work so hard at their therapy have a place to relax and simply be kids

The Utah Chapter of Days for Girls had an ambitious goal of creating 1,000 reusable hygiene kits for girls and women in Kenya in one day. Meeting in the multi-purpose rooms at the doTERRA corporate offices, local Wellness Advocates and employees worked for most of the day to make this goal reality.

According to recent USAID statistics, 1 in 5 girls in developing countries who enroll in primary school never finish. They often miss school when menstruation starts, and once they miss a test or important assignment it is difficult to come back. Days for Girls is working to solve this problem by providing girls with washable feminine hygiene supplies that will allow them to leave home no matter the time of the month. These kits have already positively impacted thousands of women across the world, even in the U.S.

From cutting out the fabric, to sewing the reusable pads together, to assembling the kit, volunteers came to appreciate just how much these kits mean to girls all over the world. At the end of the day, all volunteer efforts paid off, with a grand total of 1,080 kits made.