Carly Rae Jepsen, JCPenney and The 'Y' Team Up to Spread Holiday Joy to Local NYC Communities

The multi-platinum singer/songwriter helps kids shop for themselves (and others) and talks about what else she is up to this holiday season

By The LifeMinute Team

November 30, 2016

This week we caught up with multi-platinum, Grammy nominated, singer/songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen, who teamed up with JCPenney and the "Y" in New York City to spread holiday joy to local communities in need.

Holiday To-Dos

"I'm going to be doing some mad shopping with the kids from the 'Y' finding presents not just them, but their friends and family members as well," says the singer.

In a festive event, Carly lent her pipes to lead the group in some holiday carols before helping them pick out gifts for their loved ones, all donated by JCPenney.

The Joy of Giving

"When this time of year rolls around, I always think of what I could be doing to be giving back and I think that is such a great message to be teaching kids," she says. "I mean, even as a child when Christmas came it was always that present that I thought was really special that I could get for my mom or I could get for my brother that I was the most excited about, and I think that is a really important lesson to be teaching the youth."

In the spirit of giving, JC Penney made a generous $100,000 donation to the "Y" to help strengthen their youth development programs.

"The message of giving back is something we should be thinking about all year round but I think when Christmas comes it's forefront in our brains and I myself am glad to be a part of anything that could be teaching that message to our youth."

Catching Up With Carly

So when she's not doing good deeds what else is Carly up to these days? "I'm just working and writing my new project, my new album so that's keeping me quite busy in the studio. Until it's done I won't say too much about that but I'm having a great time with it."

Holiday Plans?

"Actually I'm doing a show in Ottawa for the New Year. But I go back to Vancouver for my hometown celebration. We actually have this tradition where we take over the Harrison Hot Springs, which is this hotel that has been there forever and we go a couple days before Christmas and we have this old band called the Jones Boys play classics like "Lady in Red" and we just enjoy how cheesy and wonderful it is."

Produced for: JCPenney