NEGU: This motto and message was first created by a young Orange County girl by the name of Jessie Rees. Jessie Rees was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 11.
Mission Viejo High School has continued to open up their club for students that has been running for seven years! This club surrounds the motto NEGU which stands for Never Ever Give Up. Over 400,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer every year and it is very hard for the children and families, as it affects them all. With this motto, it can encourage them to never ever give up!
While Jessie was going through chemotherapy, she met many others battling cancer. Every day was a struggle for Jessie, but she never once complained. One day on Jessie’s way home from the hospital, she asked her parents, “Mom, Dad, when do all the other kids come home?” When she was told that there were lots of kids who unfortunately didn’t get to come home with their treatment plan, she wanted to change that.
Jessie got together little paper bags and her toys, and started making these bags for kids still in the hospital. Jessie and her father delivered these bags to the hospital but were first asked to replace these bags with plastic jars because it would be more sanitary.
When Jessie saw the look on the kids faces after receiving these jars, she knew she wanted to keep doing this for the children. Jessie needed to make a name for these jars though. Jessie’s middle name is Joy, so they took her middle name and combined it with jars, making the name Joy Jars. After word spread of these Joy Jars, there became a high demand for them and it was Jessie’s mission to fulfill them.
After a while, her parents, with all of these demands, decided to open up a foundation: the Jessie Rees Foundation. Here, Joy Jars were made to be shipped out all over the country with a message created by Jessie:NEGU. Jessie continued to inspire kids all over and spread this message and Joy Jars up until she lost her fight with cancer on January 5th, 2012. Joy Jars are still being made and shipped out to countries all over the world.
Mission Viejo High School is a part of this and has their own NEGU club. In this club, the students make decorated cards with encouraging words that are sent to be put in the Joy Jars. Mission Viejo High School also takes part in events sponsored by the Jessie Rees Foundation.
Some upcoming events happening in December are the Santa Stroll on December 10th and a trip to the Joy factory on December 3rd. Many more events will be made in the future and this club will be sticking around for a long time as well. We hope to see more students join this club in the future and continue to support NEGU.
