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Soaringwords, 1 Penn Plaza, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10119, T. 646-674-7105

www.soaringwords.org

Inner-city school students loved being mentored in a Soaringwords’

program for a Take Your Child to Work Day. Together with

professionals from a high profile ad agency they decorated quilts

and pillows to inspire hospitalized children in their community to

“Never give up!”.

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About Soaringwords

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the rate of chronic disease among children

has doubled in the past two decades. In fact, more than half of children ages 8 to 14 have had a

long-term health problem at some point in their lives.

Soaringwords’ mission is to empower communities to support and inspire chronically ill

children and their families to “Never give up!”

Soaringwords‘ works with hospitals, schools and community groups nationwide to connect ill

children and their families to a community of compassionate and caring volunteers who inspire

them to heal.

Since its inception in 2001, Soaringwords has positively impacted over 250,000 children and

100,000 employee volunteers nationwide.

Soaringwords is the only organization that motivates ill children and their families to “pay it

forward“ because helping others in need enables them to transcend their suffering and

connect to their core selves.

Soaringwords embraces these children and their families by providing fun, creative and

educational activities, both in person and online, which cultivate joy, hope, laughter and healing.

One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that

individuals can choose the way they think. – Martin Seligman, PhD

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Message from our CEO & Founder

2011 was an amazing year as Soaringwords supported hospitalized children, inner-city students,

and employee volunteers. Everyone came together to inspire ill children and their families to

“Never give up!”

Special thanks to our loyal volunteers and new friends who have joined the Soaringwords family.

This year, we launched powerful new alliances with Facebook, CIGNA, CVS, William Morris

Endeavor Entertainment (WME), BD, and MDC-Partners. We expanded programs in international

markets with Johnson & Johnson and launched nineteen international markets with JetBlue.

Soaringwords collaborated with thousands of employees in Volunteer Leadership Groups in ten

cities nationwide with JPMorgan Chase, and won the Chairman’s Award for our collaboration with

BNYMellon employees in eight cities nationwide.

Soaringwords’ best-in-class employee-engagement initiatives were expanded among several of

our leading partners to include employees who traditionally have never been invited to participate

in volunteer experiences, namely hourly workers, call center employees, and operations and

distribution center staff.

Rachel Gorman, MA, CCLS, joined our team as Director of Hospital Outreach and Wellness

Education. Rachel is working closely with our partner hospitals nationwide to expand the

Soaringwords experience to ill children and families 365 days a year. In 2012, we’ll be creating

new Soaringwords video content and webinars for patients and their families, hospital employees,

and professionals who are grappling with the challenges of serious illness.

We created more content for many of our trademarked initiatives, including SoaringMuseums®,

SoaringNutrition®, and SoaringHeroes® and SoaringHeroines®. This year we also completed

new videos and webinars with partners such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, best-selling

experts and authors in mind-body-wellness, nutrition and healing. PI&C advertising agency

donated a Public Service Advertising campaign and a social media campaign which will launch in

partnership with Facebook in 2012.

Continued thanks to Cisco for being the lead technology sponsor of Soaringwords. In addition to

donating our offices, this year Cisco’s WebEx team hosted Soaringwords webinars for Fortune

100 companies. These webinars enable us to share valuable insights and strategies with

managers, employees and families caring for ill children and loved ones. Soaringwords content

and webinars help companies to support their employees grappling with serious illness.

In 2011, the organization received $416,727 in cash and $362,631 of in-kind donations. Most

importantly, Soaringwords reached over 10,000 ill children and their families.

We would love to hear from you and hope you will continue to support or join

the Soaringwords family in 2012. Wishing you strength, great health,

and gratitude for the simple wonders of each day.

Lisa Honig Buksbaum,

CEO & Founder, Soaringwords

lisa@soaringwords.org

646-674-7105

Highlights of the Year

Facebook New York employees came together for a three-day office-wide team-building

experience where individuals and departments decorated SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows®

with inspirational messages and artwork to donate to hospitalized children at NY Weill Cornell

Medical Center.

For the fourth year in a row, JetBlue Airways selected Soaringwords as the national non-

profit partner for their Light Up a Life initiative. Thousand of JetBlue Crewmembers in 65 cities

nationwide and throughout the Caribbean rated Soaringwords volunteering as “best ever” on

three key measurements: the first time in JetBlue’s ten-year history that each city participated in

an initiative; Soaringwords motivated the greatest number of employee volunteers; Regional

Managers said that crewmember participants reported the greatest level of engagement and

enthusiasm for a volunteer program.

Soaringwords’ initiatives engaged Call Center

and Distribution Center employees in volunteer

experiences, many of whom were never before

been able to volunteer.

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Above: Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, “Big Papi” and

Crewmembers cheer up hospitalized children at Dr.

Robert Reid Cabral Hospital in the Dominican Republic.

Right: Crewmembers at Miller Children's Hospital in

Long Beach, CA

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Highlights of the Year

Soaringwords programs will be

shared in key WME markets in 2012.

CIGNA was looking for a powerful recruitment experience to motivate employees to refer

prospective candidates to CIGNA job events in high-growth markets. Soaringwords hands-on

team-building experiences were promoted in fliers and a viral email campaign that leveraged the

CIGNA culture and harnessed the enthusiasm of current employees among prospective hires.

Employees and new hires in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Plano and Phoenix are proud to do something

meaningful to donate to hospitalized children in their communities.

William Morris Endeavor

(WME) Entertainment, the

leading talent agency in the world,

launched the first-ever Soaringwords

team-building employee engagement

program as part of WME’s Walk the Walk

day of service.

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Highlights of the Year

Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase, celebrates Soaringwords program

with the Volunteer Leadership Group in Chatsworth, CA.

Thousands of employee volunteers at JPMorgan Chase decorated 1,067 SoaringQuilts®

and SoaringPillows® to donate to hospitalized children in Indianapolis, IN, Springfield, MO,

Northern NJ, Elgin, IL, Dallas/Lewisville, TX, Chatsworth/LA, CA, Louisville, KY, Seattle, WA, and

Chicago, IL. The Foundation wanted to showcase proven employee-engagement volunteer

opportunities to team leads in decentralized markets nationwide. Ten Volunteer Leadership Group

(VLG) teams chose Soaringwords programs. Employees in Operation Centers and Call Centers

appreciated being part of a community service experience with their peers.

“Employees who participated took two hours out of

their day which is really unusual in the Call Center. I

have heard such nice things… the giving back option

to volunteer while still in the call center during the work

day, the chance to give something to kids who need it

and the good quality of the pillows, quilts, and markers

that we had to work with. This has been great – my

center’s employees would love to have the opportunity

to do this again in the future.” – Sue Niles, Team

Leader, AVP, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Elgin, IL

Employees in 112

Chase Bank

branches enjoyed

pre-holiday team

building experiences

that benefitted 560

children in six local

New Jersey hospitals.

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Highlights of the Year

2011 was an expansive year for Soaringwords, as we shared programs in many global

markets with Johnson & Johnson. Building on the the success of national programs

for Take Your Child to Work Day, team-building programs for several departments were held

at off-sites and Annual Meetings.

Lisa Buksbaum was the inspirational speaker for 250 professionals in the Global

Pharmaceutical Research and Development Annual meetings in the U.K., Belgium,

Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

“When the time came for me to plan a networking event

for my Financial/Program Management/Global

Procurement department this May, I felt there was

nothing that would be more meaningful than having the

department bond over creating beautiful quilts and

pillows to bring to ill children in local hospitals. 250

colleagues, with the help of the Soaringwords team,

decorated 150 quilts and 150 pillows working at four

sites globally. We made hospital visits and my

colleagues and I have enormously benefitted from this

experience, one which I will continue to treasure.” --

Andrea Rose-Legatt, Senior Director, Business

Solutions, Johnson & Johnson

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Highlights of the Year

CVS Caremark wanted to give associates a powerful way to volunteer in the local

community. The first collaboration launched in Philadelphia as 80 associates mentored 120

students at the Albert M. Greenfield Elementary School.

For the second year at BNY Mellon, the HEART (Helping Each Ability by Respecting and

Teaching) Employee Affinity Network shared a company-wide Soaringwords’ initiative to benefit

hospitalized children. Soaringwords received the Chairman’s Award for the best community service

program.

“The best part was watching the creativity and caring nature of the students. The Soaringwords

program made me feel very humble and respectful of all that we have in our lives and this

subsequently produced a feeling of interest and compassion in helping those individuals who are

not as fortunate. I thought it was awesome that some individuals higher up in the school’s

administrations participated with such enthusiasm. This was an excellent experience and I am glad

to just be part of it and make a difference in someone’s life”. --Steve Jones, Syracuse, NY

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Highlights of the Year

For the third year, Northrop Grumman deepened its commitment with Soaringwords

to support military families, specifically families grappling with serious illness, through

particpation in Soaringwords activities. Employees in five markets enjoyed team-building

programs to benefit hospitalized children and military families. Two Soaringwords’ webinars.

Caring for the Caregiver and What to Say and Do to Support Parents of Seriously Ill and

Special Needs Children were shared with hundreds of employees.

“On behalf of the hundreds of employees who attended the Soaringwords webinar, please

accept our sincere thanks for an outstanding learning experience for all participants. I have

received many positive comments about the webinar from attendees and the relevance of the

content to both their professional and personal lives. It has been heartwarming to hear how

employees have been able to apply some of the perspectives provided during the session.

This enhanced the level of interaction with co-workers fostering a greater sense of community

here at Northrop Grumman. We take price in the strong level of camaraderie that exists within

our organization. The What to Say/Do to Support Co-Workers and Family Members with

Serious Illness webinar delivered suggestions for actions and behaviors that are closely

aligned with our core values.

Additionally, the content had strong carryover to the work that we are doing in our communities

and provided practical advice for us to provide support within our own families. Based on

positive and unanimous response from employees, we want to invite you to share

Soaringwords initiatives with our leadership team during the national Corporate Citizenship

Council meeting. We continue to receive positive feedback about the webinar and employees

who were on the call continue to share the information with co-workers not on the call – a real

tribute to the high caliber of content, your delivery and the importance of the topic. The lead for

our national employee resource group for new employees (a group that includes thousands of

members across the country) said it was the “best” lunchtime seminar he has attended.

Thanks again to you and Cisco for the delivery of a high impact webinar that has enabled our

employees to enhance our connections at work, at home and I our communities.” – Debbie

Edwards Veihdeffer, Director, Work-Life Integration, Human Resources Strategic Initiatives,

Northrop Grumman

I was so impressed with Soaringwords. This was a powerful team-building experience in our

office. – Wendi Dubach, Employee Resource Group team lead in Salt Lake City, UT, Northrop

Grumman

Highlights of the Year

The Corporate Social Responsibility Team at Beckton Dickinson (BD), a leading

manufacturer of medical instruments, wanted to share volunteer service opportunities that

reflected the company’s core mission “to help all people live healthy lives”. The Pharmaceutical

Systems Self-Administration Injection Team enjoyed volunteering with Soaringwords at BD

Headquarters. Working together, employees and their children decorated quilts and pillows to

donate to hospitalized children. A few months later, the BD Medical Surgical Team enjoyed

mentoring 98 fourth and fifth grade students in a full-day volunteer experience at School 5 in

Paterson, NJ which included decorating quilts and pillows and a group dance jam.

Employee delegations personally delivered quilts and pillows to patients and families at St.

Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson, NJ and Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ.

“Interacting with the kids and coming up with ideas to decorate the quilts and pillows was the

best part. The team aspect was fun, good laughs all around! Engaging with the kids and

choreographing moves was the best part of the dance jam.” – Noel Titus

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Highlights of the Year

SoaringMuseums® videos provide behind-the-scene virtual museum exhibits and

experiences. At the end of each video, participants “pay it forward” creating a Soaringwords

project to donate to a hospitalized child. In 2011, we produced new SoaringMuseums®

videos at The Metropolitan Museum of Art taking patients and viewers behind the scenes to

ancient Egypt. We captured one of the hottest museum openings in NYC at The Armory with

The American Folk Art Museum’s Three Hundred Years of Red & White Quilts blockbuster

exhibit.

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Soaringwords Leadership Team

Lisa Honig Buksbaum, CEO & Founder

Lisa is a passionary (a visionary driven by great passion and action). Based on her

experiences talking to children and adults and sharing Soaringwords programs in pediatric

hospitals, corporations, and schools she realized that people were starving to add meaning

to their lives and to become part of something larger than themselves. Her personal

experiences with death and illness resonate with people in deep and profound ways, which

inspired her to launch Soaringwords. Soaringwords has embraced over 250,000 children

and families since its inception. The organization is implementing many national and global

marketing initiatives with leading companies. Lisa is the author of Soaringwords the Power

to Heal. 10 Ways to Conquer Life’s Pain and Obstacles, which will be published in 2012.

Lisa has won national awards from A&E Television, Cisco, and the Points of Light

Foundation and USA Weekend. She has been featured on ABC News, in USA

Weekend, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Fortune Small Business, Working Mother and

Nickelodeon.

Lisa is a popular inspirational speaker at leading companies, including Eli Lilly and

Company, Johnson & Johnson, Aetna, Verizon, American Express, Goldman Sachs,

MetLife and Starbucks. She is an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and

received an MBA in Marketing from Columbia University. She is also a graduate of the

Columbia Graduate School of Business Institute for Non-Profit Management program and

and The Birthing of Giants program run by M.I.T.

Prior to creating Soaringwords, Lisa founded Boxtree Communications, a successful

marketing firm. Boxtree managed marketing and branding for many leading firms including

NTT, Equitable, Chase, Scholastic, Colgate, and Dannon. Lisa created pro-bono campaigns

for Take Our Daughters to Work Day, Boys & Girls Clubs, Sheba Medical Center, and The

Dwelling Place. Lisa started her advertising career at Young & Rubicam and Lintas where

she ran various accounts including Lipton Tea and Dixie. She was also the Manager for New

Business, responsible for winning Macy’s and Blockbuster Video.

She lives in Manhattan with her husband Jacob and two sons. She gains her energy from

swimming each morning and connecting with people in meaningful ways.

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Soaringwords Leadership Team

Rachel N. Gorman, MA, CCLS

Soaringwords’ Director, Hospital Outreach and Wellness Education

Rachel has shared her compassion and expertise working with children and families in

hospitals, schools and in private practice for over 20 years. As a young adult, she experienced

the death of two grandparents, one who died suddenly and the other one who experienced a

beautifully supported family death, thanks to Hospice care. From these experiences her life

was changed. Rachel then decided to merge her education and life experiences and

discovered the field of Child Life, supporting children and families through hospitalization and

illness.

Rachel worked as a Child Life Specialist at North Shore University Hospital, as a Child Life

Therapist for the Program for Children and Families (children and families infected and

affected by HIV/AIDS) at St. Luke’s Roosevelt and finally, as the Director of the Child Life

Program at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Rachel served as adjunct faculty at the Bank Street

Graduate School of Education for over five years, mentoring those beginning their career in

Child Life.

Rachel’s enthusiasm is apparent. She is a strong workshop leader and trainer for children,

parents, hospital staff and caregivers on subjects such as non-pharmacological pain

management, coping with the stress of hospitalization, effective communication tools and

many other topics that support ill children and their families.

Rachel received her Masters degree in Early Childhood Education and Parent Education from

Binghamton University. She received post-graduate training in Child Life and Early Childhood

Education at Yale University and the Bank Street College of Education.

Rachel was first introduced to the healing power of Soaringwords over ten years ago, as a

hospital partner while she was heading up the Child Life Program at St. Vincent’s. Rachel is

happy to now be a part of the Soaringwords team, providing hope and healing to children and

families. Rachel lives with her husband and son in Manhattan.

Greta Rozensweig, Community Relations Manager

Greta joined Soaringwords as an intern, working 20 hours per week, during her senior year of

college. In 2002, upon her graduation, Greta became the first full time employee. She

coordinates corporate community outreach programs and manages educational outreach

events for at-risk school students and hospitalized children. Greta is the go-to person who

always keeps things running at Soaringwords. Greta holds a BA in Psychology from Brooklyn

College. She lives in Brooklyn.

Kari Etter, Volunteer Manager

Kari knows how to get things done. She ran a successful Executive Search firm’s operations

for ten years. At Soaringwords she manages a myriad of details, supporting the CEO &

Founder and coordinating volunteer initiatives all while sharing her effervescence with

everyone she encounters. Kari studied Psychology at George Washington University. She is a

Nia Blue Belt dance instructor and the proud mother of her son Cody.

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Board of Directors

Graham Allan, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Cisco

Lisa Honig Buksbaum, CEO and Founder, Soaringwords

Patricia David, Managing Director and the Global Head of Diversity, JPMorgan Chase

Laureen Fredella, Director of Resource Development, Tenement Museum

Mark Kershisnik, Global Head of Research, Eli Lilly and Company

Caren Raphael, President, Corporate Funding

Gina Rauscher, Former Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, JetBlue Airways

Liz Robinson, VP of Marketing, Sallie Mae

Paul Rupert, President, Rupert & Company

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