Youth Advisory Board Member Reflection: Jack Long (Christian '20)

My experience on the Youth Advisory Board has been nothing short of a once in a lifetime opportunity. It has given me the chance to meet many high school students from around the area that have a similar drive to give back. The Board consists of 50 high school students from eight different schools across West Michigan. And instead of competing against each other like our high schools usually do, we work together to grow the mission of Billy Bear. 

Through Billy Bear Hug, we are given the ability to make a difference in our community every day. Having the opportunity for the hands on experiences and interactions with young patients in hospitals, leaders of nonprofits, and successful business professionals is rare for any high school student. But with Billy Bear Hug, these are opportunities we are given on a regular basis. We are able to go to the Children’s Healing Center, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, the Ronald McDonald House, and so many more places to see and impact the lives of the children there. 

One of the bigger smiles I’ve ever seen was when I was playing a game of Monopoly at the Children’s Healing Center with a boy named Owen. When I rolled an 8, landing on his property, with a Hotel on it, I owed him over $2,000 dollars. I counted out the large sum of money and reached out to give it to Owen. He picked up his new Billy Bear he had received earlier that day, and using the paws of the bear, snatched the wad of money from my hand and excitedly said “Thank you” with a huge smile on his face. And despite losing a large portion of my hard earned money, I had a smile on my face too. 

One of my first experiences with Billy Bear Hug was delivering a care package of legos, star wars toys and of course, a Billy Bear to a boy named Jens who was battling neuroblastoma . We brought his package to his room at the Ronald McDonald house. When we entered the room, he rolled over in bed, and with a twinkle in his eye and a sense of curiosity, he knew that today was going to be a little different than the rest. Sadly, Jens lost his battle with cancer only a few weeks after. At Billy Bear Hug, we often say “sometimes, our job is not always to cure but to offer healing and walk alongside others in their journey, to let them know that someone is there for them when others aren’t.” 

One of the most unique parts of the Youth Advisory Board is how reliant it is on the students. We are the driving factor behind many of our projects and ways to spread the mission of Billy Bear. Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Guatemala on a mission trip to serve the impoverished villages of Chimaltenango. The villagers there had unclean water, with rusted sheet metal tent homes, but had smiles that light up night skies. On top of constructing small homes for the families in these villages, we got to play soccer with them, teach ‘Pato Pato Ganso’ (or Duck Duck Goose) to them, and laugh with them at my lacking ability to speak Spanish despite 3 years of high school Spanish class. But at the end of the week, we unboxed 45 Billy Bears for the children of the village, as a reminder that there are many people out there that care about them even across the world. With the huge smiles of the children in Guatemala in mind, there is no doubt that the power of a Billy Bear is international. 

Thank you to everyone who supports our mission at Billy Bear Hug. I am sure that Billy would be so extremely proud of everyone for continuing the work that he loved so much.