Making Kids Birthdays Special

We in the Eagle-Garden City Rotary Club are getting as excited as children about our upcoming 25th birthday! And we've been thinking about how we can celebrate this milestone.

 

One idea really took hold. We recognized that not everyone gets to celebrate their birthday. Children whose families rely heavily on food banks and social services must put basic needs above all else. 

 

So we decided to create birthday kits for children! Each kit has a cake mix, frosting, birthday candles, sprinkles and can of Sprite (a substitute for the oil, eggs and water) organized in a disposable aluminum cake pan with a clear plastic lid. We've also included a birthday wish from our club and instructions for using the Sprite in place of other ingredients. 

Hunger is not a new problem, but the coronavirus pandemic and inflation are making the problem worse. In Idaho, nearly 200,000 people don't know when or what their next meal will be, and more than 49,000 of these are children. That's one in nine Idaho kids facing hunger. Food banks and other social programs like SNAP are vital for these people.

 

And in the past, our club has sponsored food drives and given generously to food banks. These donations often generate lots of canned soup, flour, rice, applesauce and other nonperishable but nutritious staples. But some donations may not be usable if recipients lack the perishable ingredients — like eggs and milk — to prepare the food. And these donations may not include special items like birthday cakes. 

 

So we leaned into our new project and spent a few weeks collecting the items. Thanks to generous donations by more than half of our 23 club members, no club funds had to be used for our project — club members gave from their hearts. Before our April 14 meeting, several club members met to put the kits together, decorating them with festive ribbons and bows. Then after the meeting, 10 of the kits were delivered to the Eagle Community Foodbank, and 15 went to the Boise Rescue Mission's facility for women and children, City Light.