Alison Weaver takes her “emotional support monster” wherever she goes, aiming to bring joy and comfort to others.
“He became an emotional support monster for everyone, for our family and then for my friends,” she says. “Everybody just fell in love with him.”
It all started a few years ago when Weaver, now 47, was having a rough day and asked her son if she could hug his stuffed monster, Gilly.
“I just really needed to hug him,” Weaver, 47, recalls. And he made her feel better. So she started taking the stuffed monster to work with her at the theme park. If a colleague had a bad day, he hugged the monster. She soon bought duplicates for all her friends and family.
Eventually, her two children convinced her to start a YouTube channel documenting all of Gilly’s adventures and good deeds.
‘Emotional Support Monster’ Gilly.
Courtesy of Alison Weaver
“My son said, ‘Everyone needs to meet Gilly because he makes everyone so happy,'” she recalls. “I said, ‘Okay, but I’ll stop this if it’s just getting ridiculous.’ ”
His channel now has almost 500 subscribers.
“He makes other people happy every day,” she says. “It’s great. What makes me most happy is the joy he brings to people, not just my family and friends, but complete strangers.”
Gilly is also a kindness ambassador for the Yellow Band Project — an organization that promotes doing good deeds in memory of a boy who did the same — and hands out kindness bracelets with Weaver’s help.
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“Everywhere we go, if we think someone needs a smile, Gilly gives them a bracelet,” she says. “I know Gilly brings happiness to everyone.”
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Alison Weaver and Gilly.
Courtesy of Alison Weaver
Since going public with Gilly’s Goodness, Weaver has received a huge response from viewers and fans.
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“People have told me they’ve suffered from depression and Gilly is the only thing that makes them smile. It makes me cry when I think about it, because all I wanted was to make other people feel as happy as we did,” she says.
Her goal is to continue to spread the joy that Gilly brings to her family.
“It surprises me every day how much people love him,” she says. “It’s completely crazy, but it’s really fun.”
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Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education