It’s that time of year again, where we mark another year since Colin’s death and try to focus on gratitude to ease the pain. Each year has felt different. This year has been filled with so many memories. In some ways it’s incredibly hard - like getting hit with a huge wave you didn’t see coming that knocks you down and takes your breath away. In other ways we welcome it, like we’d do anything to hold onto those days just a little bit longer. There is one constant we appreciate as we navigate these waves - we know Colin lived every day to the fullest, reminding us of our quest with Colin’s Joy Project, to live each day with pure joy in our hearts.

Colin’s Joy Project continues to help us feel light in the darkness. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who continues to join us in building and maintaining Colin’s legacy through play spaces and family focused programming with our community partners. We’re proud to share that we donated more than ever this past year to our community partners and their impact has been remarkable. We saw the opening of our biggest play space project yet at Marine Park. We are excited for a grand opening this Fall when the finishing touches are completed, including a memorial boulder for Colin (which he would have loved jumping off). Additionally, the beloved and restored Marine Park turtle sculpture returns! We know how important this sculpture has been to generations of Southie families, so we jumped at the opportunity to fund its repair.

We couldn’t do all of this without the support of our community near and far, the commitment by our marathon teams each year, all who show up for our 5K and other fundraisers, the businesses and organizations who support us, the many volunteers who contribute their time to us, the elected officials who’ve helped us accomplish our projects in our community, and the many people who go out of their way to be a part of Colin’s Joy Project. You keep us going and we appreciate that more than you could ever know.

We look forward to continuing to support our community partners this year, to more projects and events, and to continuing to spread JOY in Colin’s name.

With gratitude,

Brendan, Kerri, Sloane and Miles