Julie Lenzer is promoting thrivership” by making joy a daily habit – one rooted in resilience and recovery.
MANCHESTER, NH — A new kind of vehicle will roll into City Hall Plaza Friday evening — one not built for transit, but for transformation.
The “Joy Van,” the centerpiece of a growing movement called Ain’t Dead Yet, will make its official debut during the Manchester Arts Commission’s 17th City Employee and Family Art Show reception, which runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m., aiming to bring energy, connection and — as its founder puts it — a reminder to celebrate life while we’re still in it.
The Joy Van is like the pre-game party, and will be on the premises from 4-6 p.m.
Julie Lenzer, a Maryland-based technologist turned entrepreneur, said the concept for Ain’t Dead Yet predates her own battle with aggressive breast cancer two years ago, but took on deeper meaning during and after treatment.
A self-described “computer nerd,” Lenzer earned her master’s in artificial intelligence and machine learning during the COVID-19 pandemic — a detail that underscores the unlikely path from tech and startups to what she now calls a passion-driven mission to spread joy.
The Joy Van is the vehicle – literally and figuratively – for her purpose-driven mission, which she has finally brought to fruition.
“One of our purposes is to remind people that joy makes crappy things easier to deal with,” Lenzer said, describing the initiative as a way to build a daily habit of joy, a concept backed by research linking it to improved mental and physical well-being.
Friday’s event marks the Joy Van’s first official municipal partnership and public debut, following a smaller “van check” event for a sobriety celebration last week.
Parked outside City Hall on Friday, the van will serve as what Lenzer calls a “mobile joy activation,” music will be blasting and she will be on hand inviting passersby to join in spontaneous activities — from laughing contests to dancing — while also drawing attention to the art show inside.
“Part of the hope is to help people start the weekend off on a fun note,” Lenzer said. “And also bring people into the arts exhibition — inviting people to come partake in the fun and, by the way, check out the art inside City Hall.”
Lenzer will be joined by New Hampshire community organizer Tara Giles and Ain’t Dead Yet COO Larry Twele, who will be helping crank up the joy volume.
While rooted in Lenzer’s personal experience, the mission extends far beyond cancer survivors. The group is working with communities ranging from military veterans dealing with PTSD to patients in cardiac rehabilitation — all under what Lenzer describes as a broader push toward “thrivership.”
“Why wait ’til someone’s gone to celebrate life?” she says.
Future plans include larger-scale events like a “Thriver Parade” in New Orleans, where the Joy Van will lead a second-line procession down Bourbon Street. (She encourages everyone to sign up for the joy-filled field trip to the Big Easy via her Ain’t DeadYet website, which is still under construction); the Ain’t Dead Yet Life Center, and also more information here.
Learn a bit more about Lenzer’s Ain’t Dead Yet movement via this YouTube below:
