Annual Report

We are beyond grateful for the opportunities that have come our way in the past several years.

At the beginning of the pandemic, and as it dragged on, we had some anxiety about the sustainability of our programs as we took everything to the virtual format. As luck would have it, the launch of our Nose to Nose visits helped us to bridge the gap with our hospital partners while we waited to get back to in person visits. We learned that children on the autism spectrum were greatly invested in weekly online visits with the clowns and that kids and teens who were normally extremely shy felt comfortable to interact and have fun with the clowns in the virtual format. We were also fortunate to be classified as essential workers at Cook Children’s Medical Center, and were able to resume in person rounds just eight weeks after the start of Covid in 2020. 

All of this work allowed us to enter the 2021-22 fiscal year with a head of steam and confidence that our work was being received as a serious contribution to the circle of care. This year has been a year of tremendous growth for the Laughter League. We adopted the clown program (formerly Room Circus) at Seattle Children’s Hospital. We recruited and trained three new clowns in Fort Worth and four in Boston, with a particular focus on recruiting people of color and varied cultural and physical backgrounds, and we invested in company wide training in DEI through Cultural Equity Learning Community of Arts Connection International in Boston. We also added two new administrative positions: Chief Equity Officer and Project Coordinator. Last but not least, we launched a brand new program at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, cultivating a robust group of donors with a rich history in circus and clown care work through the Big Apple Circus.

Laughter League’s Board of Directors and Young Professionals Board have continued to support our growth. Board of Directors: Debbie Carpenter, Kathy Beazley, Dr. Raymond Quigley, Martha Quigley, Guinea Bennett-Price and Rhonda Thompson. Our Young Professionals Board members are Brandon Hassan, Chet Monday, and Emily Faith. We hope to expand the board to include representatives from each market area where Laughter League has a program.

As the year draws to a close, we are proud of our recent growth and extremely excited about where the organization is headed. We are committed to growing thoughtfully and to being a contemporary organization that looks to the future. We hope to be good stewards of the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion and continue to work as seriously at being an anti-racist organization as we work at fulfilling our organization’s mission.

Tiffany Riley & Dick Monday