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Joey Landry

Giving

Nine years, one neighborhood, $20,000+ for Make-A-Wish.

When I was nine, I got my first glimpse of the joy Make-A-Wish brings to children with critical illnesses, and I wanted to help. So I started where I was: Nyes Neck, a small neighborhood on Cape Cod.

It began with a lemonade stand and grew, summer after summer, into games nights, movie nights, apparel, gift bags and live music — with the whole neighborhood showing up. Together we raised more than $20,000 for Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Raised for Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island

$20,000+

Raised for Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island

2013 to 2021, every summer in Nyes Neck

9 years

2013 to 2021, every summer in Nyes Neck

“I have been given an amazing opportunity to help provide life-changing experiences for wish children.”

Make-A-Wish · Nyes Neck

The fundraisers, in order.

  1. 2013

    Where it started

    A lemonade stand and bracelets on the lawn in Nyes Neck. The very first fundraiser.

    Joey at nine beside a hand-painted “Lemanade” sign and a striped table of bracelets strung with colored lights, on a lawn in front of a gray-shingled porch.
    Lemonade and bracelets, 2013.

  2. 2014

    Games night at the Beach Field

    Two dollars at the door, 7:30 to 8:30, rain date next Monday. Profits went to Make-A-Wish.

    Joey behind a small table by the water, with a hand-lettered whiteboard: Games Night tonight, $2, 7:30–8:30 pm at the Beach Field, profits to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
    Games night, 2014.

  3. Early years

    The table by the harbor

    A pop-up tent, two striped tables and a Make-A-Wish banner, set up where the neighborhood walks by the water.

    A white pop-up tent with a Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island banner over two striped tables, with the harbor behind it.
    The Make-A-Wish table by the harbor.

  4. 2016

    Backyard movie nights

    A sheet on the fence, a projector and a lawn full of blankets. Movie-night gift bags and s’mores kits became a summer staple.

    Kids on blankets in a backyard at dusk, watching a movie projected onto a sheet hung on a wooden fence.
    Movie night, 2016.

  5. 2019

    Apparel and gift bags

    By 2019 the table had become a tent: shirts, sweatshirts and rows of gift bags, all for Make-A-Wish.

    Joey and a friend under a white tent with Make-A-Wish banners, behind tables of folded T-shirts, a hung sweatshirt and rows of navy gift bags.
    The apparel tent, 2019.

  6. 2021

    The last one: live music after the annual meeting

    My final fundraiser before college — a live band under the tent after the Nyes Neck annual meeting. It pushed the total past $20,000.

    A hand-drawn sign on a split-rail fence reading “Nyes Neck, Sat 10th, Annual Meeting 5pm”, with a crowd gathered under a white tent by the water behind it.
    The annual meeting, 5 pm.
    A four-piece band — bass, drums, guitar and keyboard — playing under a white tent strung with lights and a Make-A-Wish banner.
    The band.
    A crowd dancing under a tent lit purple and blue at night, with Make-A-Wish banners along the back wall.
    Under the tent, after dark.

From Make-A-Wish

A thank-you from Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island thank-you graphic headlined “Joey Landry raises over $20K for Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island!”, telling the story of the Nyes Neck fundraisers and thanking Joey and the Nyes Neck community, beside a photo of a smiling wish child at a drum set.
Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

What’s next

Continuing where I left off — with St. Jude.

Nyes Neck Clothing & Apparel carries the same purpose forward. It’s a brand inspired by Nyes Neck and Cape Cod, and a portion of proceeds supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The long-term goal is to build a nonprofit around this work, helping children in need and people affected by domestic violence. Until then, the shop keeps giving back.

Visit nyesneck.shop (opens in a new tab)How the shop is builtSt. Jude (opens in a new tab)
The sun setting over calm water at the end of a long wooden dock, one person sitting alone at the far end, a jetty of rocks and shingled houses on the point to the left.
Nyes Neck at sundown.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Nyes Neck, Make-A-Wish, and every fundraiser along the way.