Bringing Comfort and Joy to Families Facing Pediatric Cancer

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Emma Justus. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

In 2018, at just 11 years old, Emma Justus faced the life-altering diagnosis of her father’s glioblastoma, a terminal brain cancer linked to his volunteer work at Ground Zero after 9/11. Instead of succumbing to despair, Emma was inspired to turn her family’s personal tragedy into a mission of hope. She founded Club Care, a charity organization that supports pediatric oncology families, and later enrolled in a junior therapy training program to deepen her commitment to helping others.

Club Care began with a heartfelt project: Emma and a friend, who had also lost a parent to cancer, created nearly 100 care packages for pediatric oncology patients at a local hospital. This simple but impactful gesture has since blossomed into numerous initiatives. From organizing mother-daughter outings for families affected by brain cancer to connecting with single moms balancing the challenges of cancer treatments and parenting, Emma has shown an exceptional dedication to spreading joy and relief to those in need.

Emma’s leadership extends beyond her local community. She developed a manual to help other students start their own Club Care chapters, which now span across her city and reach as far as Miami and Paris. These chapters follow Emma’s model of compassion, raising funds, organizing events and offering support to pediatric cancer patients and their families. Over the years, Emma has raised more than $15,000 for Club Care, hosted countless fundraisers and personally overseen 10 global chapters, fostering a network of young changemakers who continue to amplify her mission.

Emma’s ability to transform personal loss into a movement that touches lives worldwide is a testament to the difference one young person can make when driven by a desire to care for others.

Tell us about your volunteer role.

When I was 11 years old, my dad was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a brain cancer. My family is very philanthropic on the whole and raised me to help others in situations where I am able to provide help, and to always see what I can do with what I have.

When my dad was diagnosed, I knew I wanted to do something for my community, and one of the most important things you can do in volunteer work is draw from your own life experience. So when I was 12, I founded an organization called Club Care. We hosted one event, and then another. It grew from there. I’m the founder and I have a whole team of volunteers, who are incredible. It’s been growing since 2019 and has been really amazing.

What inspires you to volunteer?

My own personal experience of losing my dad inspires me. Your perspective shifts when you have empathy. You have a whole different mindset when you see someone going through the same experience you were once in. One thing that my organization really puts in a lot of effort to do is not just to work with the child who has cancer, or the parent who has cancer, but the entire family unit. Pulling from my personal experience, cancer impacts the entire family. We make sure to include siblings and other family members. My goal, when I do any of our events, is to create a loving, supportive environment.

What do some of these events look like?

We have all different types of events. We do fundraising events, like our auctions and bake sales. We host some virtual events. We partner with Mt. Sinai and do events with the pediatric oncology ward, as well as the older oncology patients

We have games. We host live cooking tutorials. We do hands-on experiences. One time, we took a family to the American Girl doll store, and gave them a gift card for a shopping spree. For another family, we did a makeover. We had volunteer hair stylists and makeup artists who offered a glam transformation. We’ve taken families to sporting events. We like hands-on events that we can attend, in order to establish a connection with the families. Some of my favorite events are working with families we previously worked with, reestablishing our connection with them. We like to stay in contact with them to create that lasting relationship.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

Something we’ve started doing over the past few years is a chapters program. Others interested in starting a Club Care chapter – for instance friends who’d volunteered with me in the past – can start Club Care chapters in their own high schools. There are some in New York, where I live, as well as in Pennsylvania, in Miami and even in Paris. It doesn’t matter how big the events are. Just knowing that there’s a collective community and reinforcing that sense of community for people is so powerful.

Another part of my mission with Club Care is reinforcing the belief that young people really can make a difference. If it’s something you’re passionate about and you have the ability, you can do it. There aren’t a lot of resources for young people, and I hope my experience can help inspire other young people. Then those people can inspire others, and so on. I really want it to be an effort demonstrating what young people can do with what they’re passionate about.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

Those established relationships with the families. Seeing their progression from when you first meet them. Seeing their gratitude. The best part is how I feel afterward. iIt is such an incredible experience knowing you can take your own experience and you have the power to make a difference in someone else’s life. That feeling is indescribable – it’s the best feeling in the world to see someone light up based on something you did. I want everyone to have that experience.

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?

It’s so important because they’re passionate about it and because they know what it’s like. I hope that people don’t always have personal experience with a cause to become passionate about it. But if they do, knowing that they can use that circumstance to make a difference is so important. You can take a negative experience and make something positive out of it.

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?

My biggest tip is that volunteering is volunteering – no matter the scale. We’ve planned huge fundraisers with tons of families and kids. But we’ve also made cards and mailed them to the hospital. Volunteering on any scale makes a difference.

Start small, see how that feels and then work your way up. Something that’s also really helpful is finding people who also have a mutual commitment to the passion. It can be intimidating doing it alone, but with others, it can be a little less scary.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

Nothing is so bad that something good can’t come out of it. Of course, I wish my dad was here. My experience is so upsetting. It was a huge event in my life. But now, I’m able to take that experience and positively impact others’ lives. If something bad has happened to you, how can you make something positive from it, even in a small way? No matter how bad something is, there’s always a little bit of positivity that can come from it.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Emma? Find local volunteer opportunities.