About Project Birthday
Our History
Project Birthday held its first party at St. John’s Shelter for Women and Children in June 2004 and has continued hosting monthly birthday parties, with the goal of expanding to other emergency facilities in the Sacramento area. In January 2007 we partnered with the SKYLAB Youth Development Program at Serna Village to provide monthly parties for the children and families enrolled there. In August 2007, the Volunteers of America U Street Site was added to our monthly celebrations. Our expansion in 2008 included “Birthday in a Box” party kits for our teen birthdays, as well as new partnerships with My Sister’s House, Family Promise, and the Women’s Overcomer’s Shelter at Calvary Christian Center. Currently, we celebrate approximately 140 birthdays each year with over 900 children attending our parties.
Project Birthday provides birthday celebrations in several ways:
- Volunteers host monthly parties at St. John’s Shelter for Women and Children, Family Promise, and Next Move Sacramento Emergency Shelter. Each child who has a birthday within that month is honored and their birthdate celebrated with a cake, special activities, goodie bags, and a special birthday gift.
- Volunteers host individual birthday parties for the children in the Family Promise of Sacramento Program. These occur whenever a child within the program has a birthday, so it varies monthly.
- Project Birthday provides “Birthday Party Kits” to the Volunteers of America U Street Housing Site, and My Sister’s House. The Kits include everything needed for a birthday party, including birthday gifts, games, activities, goodie bags, decorations, and of course a birthday cake.
- Our “Birthday in a Box” teen party kits are our newest outreach to teens who may not enjoy a traditional children’s birthday party. During their birthday month, each teen may select a Birthday Box of their choice, such as Family Game Night, Movie Night, or Spa Party. Project Birthday makes the personalized party boxes and delivers them to the teens and their families as their birthday gift.
FAQs
Q: Who runs Project Birthday?
Project Birthday is a completely volunteer-operated organization. Community Link and HandsOn Superior California is Project Birthday’s parent organization and provides all high-level support, but all day-to-day operations are carried out purely by volunteers.
Q: How is Project Birthday funded?
Project Birthday is incredibly fortunate to be a part of an amazing community that has supported the organization for nearly a decade. Our #1 source of funding is you; individuals, workplaces, and social groups. Various grants have also helped to provide additional support over the years.
Q: How do you choose the families that need help?
Project Birthday partners with homeless shelters, transitional housing shelters, and family resource centers that provide us with monthly lists of children who have birthdays. We then throw a party for those children or give centers the supplies they need to make sure the children enjoy a proper celebration.
Q: What are other ways I can help out?
The easiest way to help is to donate toward the program, but Project Birthday always benefits from individual collection drives! One way in which individuals have helped is through hosting donation parties for their child’s birthday, where donations and gifts are collected for Project Birthday instead of asking guests to bring gifts for their child. Learn more here.
Q: How can I get involved with Project Birthday?
If you are interested in getting involved with Project Birthday, please email us at projectbirthday@communitylinkcr.org. We are always looking for more Party Leaders, Birthday in a Box coordinators, and committee members.
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