JLL volunteers working with Once Upon a Room makeover kids hospital rooms
Bronx, NY JLL is working with the nonprofit organization Once Upon a Room to bring comfort and joy to hospitalized children. With the launch of the company’s “Wave Across America” initiative, hundreds of JLL employee volunteers transformed more than 200 children’s hospital rooms across 17 U.S. cities into personalized, home-like environments. The initiative combines the coordinated national volunteer effort with a fundraising campaign to expand Once Upon a Room’s mission nationwide.
The initiative brought together JLL teams from across the U.S. to volunteer at participating hospitals in cities including New York, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, Denver, and Los Angeles, among others. In focused, two-hour events, teams executed custom room makeovers designed to reflect each child’s unique interests and help them feel more at home during hospital stays. The ‘Wave Across America’ name symbolizes a wave of kindness spreading across the country.
“A personalized space is essential for a child’s emotional well-being and healing process, replacing fear with comfort and clinical sterility with a sense of home,” said Jenny Hull, co-founder of Once Upon a Room. “With the launch of our ‘Wave Across America’ initiative, JLL is doing more than just decorating rooms; they are deploying volunteers to deliver hope on a national scale. Their support is transformative for our organization and, most importantly, for the hundreds of children who will feel that wave of kindness.”
Once Upon a Room was co-founded in 2014 by Jenny Hull and her daughter, Josie, whose story is one of incredible resilience. This year, Josie and her twin sister, Teresa, celebrate their 25th birthday – an extraordinary milestone, as they are among the few people in the world to be successfully separated after being born conjoined at the head. It was Josie’s own experience in the hospital growing up that gave her the idea for the nonprofit at just 12 years old. Witnessing the power of a personalized space to bring comfort and a sense of identity, she and her mother were inspired to bring that same gift to other children battling serious illnesses.
“At JLL, we believe in the power of our people to shape a better world, and that starts in the communities where we live and work,” said Charlie Smith, executive managing director and Los Angeles broker Lead at JLL. “When associate Ally Doherty brought the idea of expanding this initiative beyond LA to leadership, we knew we had to support her vision to spearhead this national expansion. We are proud to work to support an incredible organization like Once Upon a Room to launch the ‘Wave Across America’ initiative, and I am immensely proud that our people are leading this effort with both their time and fundraising to support this beautiful mission.”
Once Upon a Room is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming hospital rooms and living spaces into personalized healing sanctuaries for children and teens battling serious illnesses or long-term hospital stays. By providing custom decor, comforting items, and meaningful experiences, Once Upon a Room aims to improve the emotional well-being of pediatric patients and support their families. For more information, visit Once Upon a Room.