When Hallmark fans hear the name “Jen Lilley”,” I believe it’s safe to state that excitement, joy, admiration, and love abound for this multi-talented actress and dynamic musician who has definitely earned her way into the hearts of the fans of this top-notch network over the past few years. Because I am not a soap opera aficionado, I was oblivious to the beauty that is Jen before she burst onto this network’s scene, and I am thrilled to see her success both professionally and personally. During this time of quarantine, Jen has kept herself busy by creating an amazing contest for the artists as well as the Hallmark fans, and earlier this week, I had the opportunity to speak with her about it.
RH: Jen, it’s so great to chat with you again.
JL: Thank you, Ruth, my pleasure.
I understand you have a very special contest going on now. Why don’t you tell us all about it?
The contest is called Voices That Give, and it’s free to enter. It’s an online talent contest to help artists of all genres and every walk of life; every category you can imagine can enter. It’s to help launch the careers of artists of all genres and experience while helping kids in need. However, we created a specific category that requires no talent, and it’s for Hallmark fans. While the whole contest is kind of like America’s Got Talent meets Live Aid online for victims of child abuse…which we’re sadly seeing during this crisis…it’s gonna be horrible when this COVID-19 is over…there’s a specific category for Hallmark fans that requires no talent. All Hallmark fans have to do is make a quick video on their phones. It’s not going to be judged on quality or the way they look or anything like that. You just make a quick video saying why you love Hallmark Channel and what it would mean for you to win. And then you upload it to YouTube, which is really easy. You submit the YouTube link with your entry form, which takes about three minutes to fill out. And that’s it.
There will be one winning Hallmark fan, and that person is going to get a minimum of five hundred dollars. If they win first place overall, they’re gonna get ten thousand dollars. But the winning Hallmark fan will win five hundred dollars. They’ll get to be in a Hallmark Channel movie with me, and they’re also going to come and do a segment of Home & Family with me. It’s a really cool prize for Hallmark fans. It’s free to enter. Any profit raised from the voting round is going to go to help orphans and foster care here in the U.S.
Let me explain how the voting round works. People can enter. Hallmark fans have a couple more weeks to enter. Entries end May 31st at 11:59 P.M. So as long as they get their videos in by then, they’re good. June 1st is when the voting round begins. So let’s say, Ruth, that you enter as a Hallmark fan. Awesome. You could rally your incredible audience to vote for you. Everyone in your audience is going to click your entry share link that you post on social media. Like, “Hey, this is Ruth, and I really want to be on the Hallmark Channel with Jen Lilley. I wanna help kids. Please vote for me. Here’s my entry link.” It’s as easy as that to put on Twitter. Everybody clicks your link. They go to the site, put in their email address…we’re not going to spam them, but that’s the way they’re tracking who voted so hopefully nobody cheats…they register their email address, and they get one free vote for you. You may win a hundred percent free, and that’s it. You raised awareness for children of foster care and orphans, and you did a great job. We’re hoping to raise money for kids, but if we only raise awareness, then we’ve done a great job.
Jen on Home & Family
However, let’s say you have a super fan or your best friend or your dad, and they’re like, “I really know Ruth wants to win, and I want to help kids too.” So your dad donates an extra vote. It’s one dollar per vote. If your dad donates ten dollars, then you get ten votes. Your dad also gets my album, which is the first time I’m officially releasing it. That’s how I’m tying in my album. And the kids get a hundred percent of my profit. So it’s awesome. And then there’s different incentives for people to donate more if they can. Twenty-five dollars gets you twenty-five votes. Your dad would also get my autographed album, and the kids get the profit. If he donates a hundred dollars or more, you get a hundred votes or however many votes per dollar amount he paid. Your dad would also get my autographed album and a T-shirt of mine, and then the kids get the profits. That’s how we’re fundraising and that’s how it all works.
Thank you for explaining all that because I think I understand the contest a whole lot better now. As I think about my readers, I know one issue that will come up is how to upload videos to YouTube.
I know that’s not my favorite thing about the contest. If it was me, I would say you could upload it directly from your camera roll. But that’s the way this contest is handled.
I understand completely. What would you say to those who need directions on how to upload their video to YouTube? I know it’s a simple process, but there might be those who have never done it.
I’ve got a tab on my website already that says “how it works,” and if you click on that, you’ll find a video that I made about how to post a YouTube video. And I’ll also have these helpful links about how to upload a YouTube video and to find the link to YouTube video and how to share it. If you are still confused, please email me for additional help.
And I can say this too. If people need help and they don’t understand. they can message me too. I can help them. But I think what you’ve posted on your site should take everyone through the process.
Thank you for offering that, Ruth.
I have a feeling that many people are looking at this contest and not clicking on the link because they think, “I don’t have a talent, so that lets me out.”
Right! I think that’s where the confusion is too. With this category of the contest, you get a “Get out of talent free” card. We really want to help these kids, and Hallmark is behind it.
Well, that sounds great. I’m actually going to be entering on the talent side of things. I’ve reconnected with my singing during this time, so I’ll be posting a video soon.
That’s exciting!
I know voting begins on June 1st. When does voting end?
Voting ends July 10th. Each week, in American Idol-style, there are going to be elimination rounds. But it will be per category. The first week, let’s say there’s a thousand Hallmark fans. A certain percent will move forward, and the rest will be eliminated. So when you get closer, you can send out links saying, “I’m in second place in my category. Please vote for me.” And you can rally more votes that way. Just like people do on American Idol and America’s Got Talent.
This is exciting, Jen! I think it’s great that you’re doing this and you’re raising awareness for child abuse.
Thank you, Ruth. So let me tell you a little about my end goal with this contest. Years ago, when I started my album…I started this album about four years ago and I had the goal of giving a hundred percent of my profit to build what I was originally calling a village for children in foster care. Over the years, after a lot of advocacy and talking with some of these amazing people that are involved in foster care all over the country, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work. Orphanages do not work. A village model doesn’t really work. The village model most people think of inside the box is an orphanage. They’re not even legal in the United States for white people anymore. Group homes don’t work because children really need one-on-one attention. I can’t help every child. I wish I could. That something one of the social workers always jokes about with me. I’ll ask, “How many children can I take on?” And she says, “I have disappointing news for you. It’s not a hundred.” And I’m like, “I know, but how many can I take?!”
I’ve realized over the years that what does work is the family unit. And I mean that whether someone is a single parent or not. Some people are really equipped to be single parents, and they’re amazing. My idea that’s evolved over the years and has lined up with Brittany Rae Stokes, the founder of Project Orphans, is to create a neighborhood on a safe street where each home has loving parents who are completely committed to taking care of the children in their care and hopefully coming aside their birth family…they’re aiming for family restoration. That’s the primary goal of foster care. But these houses will also be willing to adopt the children that are in their care when that becomes an option or when that becomes necessary. I want it to be neighborhood so that all of the kids have a yard because playing outside is important. Then the parents have built-in support within the neighborhood–right, left, front, center, and behind–of foster parents that are going through it with them. Being a foster parent can be very isolating because they are going through things that other parents honestly won’t get. You have to play middle parent, and there’s a lot of complications that go with that don’t go into normal parenting. So you have a support group built-in. And you have children in the neighborhood playing with other kids in the neighborhood and not having to explain their background to them. So there’s no stigma of, “Oh, that kid’s a foster kid.” So there’s a village of support. We also want to have a community center, a therapy center for children and their families to get therapy and where they can do monitored visits as part of foster care. We want to approach the village model from a unique perspective and create a neighborhood. So that’s where the profit is going. It’s going toward building that neighborhood, breaking ground, and starting that whole subdivision.
One more question, Jen. How did you come up with this idea of doing a contest like this?
It was actually through Charlie Cawood of Big Time Radio. He mentored me and got me out of some sticky things that were going on in my music career. And that’s why we created this competition. The music and acting industry are not pro-artist. There are people who are pro-artist, however, and Hallmark is a network who really treats their actors with respect. But that kind of thinking is the exception to the rule. Charlie took me under his wing. I, by the grace of God, became Big Time Radio’s Artist of the Month back in September of 2018, which raised enough money to give a little boy named John life-saving heart surgery through Project Orphan as well. Charlie is so pro-artist, and his radio station is in forty-four countries worldwide, and his station is a part of the prize. He’s always encouraged me to take my album and tie it into helping other people because he also has a heart for children and for charity. So he was the one who gave me the idea to run a contest to help other artists and then you organically weave in your album. So my album is now about helping other artists and helping children. But it’s always been on my heart way before I met Charlie to do music with a hundred percent of my profit going towards building that neighborhood.
All right, Jen, well thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today. I look forward to seeing what the Hallmark fans will do with this contest. And I love the charity tie-in!
Thank you, Ruth, for promoting this to your fans. I look forward to lots of people entering, and I hope that Hallmark fans will get their videos in before the deadline so there are lots of great video entries and we can raise money to help the children.
I honestly don’t think I have anything to add to what Jen said except to state that I encourage each of you to consider entering this contest if possible. I know it may mean stepping out of your comfort zone, but when you realize that you are doing it for the children, what better reason is there? I’m stepping out of my comfort zone (I even had to tell myself last night that I was not backing out now!!), and I challenge each of you to do the same. After all, if Jen can invest all this time and resources into a contest that is focused solely on charity and helping others, can’t we set aside a little bit of time and do the same? However, if you are unable to enter, I do hope that you will come back and vote beginning on June 1st and as often as possible so that this event can raise money for these deserving kids! All links are below, and if you need any help, please reach out!!
FOLLOW JEN
CHECK OUT MY OTHER INTERVIEWS WITH JEN
Related Articles
1 Comment
-
I entered last week, totally off-the-cuff entry. I’ll never win, but I wanted to help Jen. My grandma was a foster mother for many years.
