Packets of Hope: A Journey of Healing
and Rediscovery
Purpose can pull us through the darkest seasons, and few stories show that better than my aunt Jill’s journey with Packets of Hope. After losing her husband and facing her own battle with cancer, Jill boarded the Queen Anne on its maiden world voyage with a clear mission: to hand-deliver information about Overcoming Obstacles, a free K–12 life skills curriculum, to ministers of education around the world. Reaching those leaders from the U.S. can be nearly impossible—emails go unanswered, contacts are hard to find—so she decided to cross oceans herself to put the materials directly in their hands.
The voyage became a test of endurance and creativity. Confined by health challenges and long sea days, Jill spent ten-hour stretches journaling and shaping those entries into a memoir. Through that process, she found healing in action—and a truth she now lives by: keep going, and let your effort reach beyond yourself.
That message runs through every port she visited and every story she tells. Purpose doesn’t erase grief, but it can move through it. Whether it’s crossing the world or taking a small step close to home, Jill’s journey is a reminder that forward motion—no matter how quiet or slow—is where hope begins.
About Jill Siegal Chalsty
Jill Siegal Chalsty is a writer, filmmaker, and philanthropist. She serves as an ambassador for Community for Education Foundation, the nonprofit organization she founded in 1992 that has provided its Overcoming Obstacles life skills curriculum to hundreds of thousands of educators across 190 countries, impacting the lives of more than 177 million children.
Get your free copy of Packets of Hope: https://www.packetsofhope.com/