PJ's Christmas in December 2020
PJ’S CHRISTMAS IN DECEMBER: CHRISTMAS TREE GIVEAWAY 2020 SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED
Houston: December 16, 2020
It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas on Saturday, December 12, 2020, for the inaugural PJ’s Christmas in December: Christmas Tree Giveaway in Houston’s Third Ward community. This event was spearheaded by PJ’s mother, ReTina Broussard, Founder of the nonprofit organization, ReIgnite A Life Foundation, reignitealife.org. After his passing last year, Ms. Broussard felt compelled to continue PJ's efforts in ensuring those who may be in need, have a joyous Christmas by giving away Christmas trees to honor his memory and the work he began in 2017, for the Houston community.
Most Houstonians and Americans, for that matter, might remember the social media influencer, Peter J. Simien, III, affectionately known as PJ @pjtheigmodel, and his superstar dog, Blaze @lifeofkingblaze. In December 2017, he was contacted by King of Christmas, a manufacturer of beautiful artificial trees, to manage and distribute over 1000 trees to families in need after Hurricane Harvey. With only two weeks to pull this off, PJ single-handedly made magic happen, and with the help of several local media outlets and his social media platforms, he was able to bless hundreds of families and charitable organizations to give them a little bit of hope that year. He even set-up trees downtown, on Congress Street to bring some joy to the homeless community.
On July 15, 2019 at the young age of 33, PJ left us much too soon, but his legacy lives on through his family and friends. Ms. Broussard partnered with Home Team Events, a nonprofit event planning organization, headed by Ms. Dorita Hatchett, dlhatchett.com to organize and execute this wonderful experience.
PJ’s Trailblazers, the volunteer group of his friends and family, created to serve the community on his behalf, along with The Community of Faith King’s Men, the helpful crew at A-Rocket Moving and Storage, and PJ’s immediate family, worked together to ensure everyone who registered and showed up, received a tree, loaded contact-free.
The call to action for donations and volunteers were answered by friends and family and the hashtag , #LiveLikePJ, had come to life! King of Christmas generously donated over 300 trees this year, ranging from 6ft. to 8ft in height, unlit and pre-lit. For the unlit trees, 200 boxes of lights were provided with each tree, made possible by donations received, along with 100 additional boxes generously donated by a Houston Area Home Depot.
Mr. DeAndre Sam, CEO of A-Rocket Moving and Storage and his Operations Manager, Robert White made sure to properly receive and store the trees and lights. Sam generously provided not only the staff of enthusiastic workers who were there to help stage and load the trees in vehicles, but also the use of his amazing property on 3401 Corder Street, which made perfect for driveby tree pickup and a smooth social-distanced contact-free process.
PJ's Trailblazers, all adorned in matching T-shirts, designed by PJ’s sister, Jessica Simien Pennie and signature purple Santa hats, guided and joyfully greeted recipients as they drove through for this meaningful experience.
Jade Harris aka “Jade SheJam”, played tracks of holiday soul for everyone to enjoy and Photographer Alex Broussard of Allie B. Photos, captured the day with beautiful photos and video. Over 300 Christmas trees and lights were distributed. PJ’s mother was overwhelmed by the support and thanked everyone for their time, contributions, and efforts to help make the Christmas Tree Give Away 2020, the first honoring her son, a success!
