We’re back! First off, our trip to Africa was incredible. The tour operators, guides, accommodations, everything! We’ve posted pictures on Instagram (shameless plug, please give us a follow!), if you’d like to check them out.

But now, back to reality, and the U.S., where we call home. As we do so, it’s occurred to me that I need to write a bit more about our mission. Of course it may seem obvious that our mission is Spreading Hope. Which is 100 percent correct. But the key piece is who, in particular, we’re spreading hope to. Now naturally, we’d love everyone to have hope for… whatever they need. Still, we have a specific group of people what we’re hoping to reach out to, and that is those battling chronic illness. While our most narrowed focus is on those with mental health conditions, we’ve broadened that a bit to include chronic illness, both well-known and rare, because we understand that though our individual experiences with illness may be drastically different, we all share one thing – we endure an illness(es) that does not go away, that we have to battle monthly or weekly or daily or hourly, and all that comes with doing so. And while we at Spread Hope Project may not be able to do much to actually physically help someone’s condition, we can let them know that they’re not alone. Sometimes, just knowing that offers hope. Which is exactly what we plan to do.

That’s where the travel piece comes in. In order to reach as many people as we can, we have to travel – whether it be to a different neighborhood within our home city (Philadelphia), to a neighboring state, across the country, or across the world. Because chronic illness can touch anyone, anywhere. It may be simply a picture of us with our Hope shirt in the destination, hoping that someone there that needs it will see it. It may be pictures with fellow chronic illness sufferers (spoonies, in chronic illness speak). It may be partnering with a hotel or accommodation to bring Spread Hope Project to their location. Whatever the method, we travel to spread our message, and hope. Always, our focus is chronic illness and hope.

If you battle chronic illness, or have a loved one who does, and think we should come to your destination, let’s hear about it! We can’t travel everywhere all at once, but we’re creating a list of spoonie contacts, friends, and destinations to for photo taking! In the mean time, we encourage you to take your own Spread Hope photos (homemade signs are an affordable and easy way!) and tag us on Instagram. Just make sure to include the message of hope for chronic illness in your actual photo/caption please!