Beck Tech Gives to the Birthday Party Project

“I don’t think there has ever been a more fun charity to volunteer with than The Birthday Party Project,” says Holly Hunt who chose to give her monthly donation to this Dallas-based organization. There are approximately 2.5 million homeless children throughout the United States. The Birthday Party Project was created to touch the lives of children living in shelters across the Dallas area. These kids get to feel special, instead of forgotten about on their birthday, it's not just another normal day. The Birthday Party Project has now grown to 20 different locations throughout the United States. They really do deliver on their mission of “Bringing joy to children experiencing homelessness through the magic of a birthday celebration.”

Beck Tech Cares is an internal monthly celebration for employees. Throughout the month, employees nominate their coworkers for going the extra mile, whether it is work-related or not. Employees read their nominations during a monthly lunch and then leadership chooses who to recognize for the month. That person then gets to select a charity of their choice to give a monetary donation to for the month. It's no secret that this month's winner loves birthdays and to find an organization that centers around a love of birthdays are a perfect pairing.

The Birthday Party Project's Magic

When The Birthday Party Project first started in 2008, they hosted in-person parties once a month to celebrate each child with a birthday that month at a given shelter. Fast forward to COVID in 2020 and the organization's owner had to pivot in order to keep everyone safe, but she didn’t give up. Instead, they came up with their Birthday in a Bag concept. It takes each individual part of the in-person party and makes it deliverable in individual quantities. The Birthday in a Bag consists of a custom water bottle, one t-shirt made by the public, one specific birthday party t-shirt by age, a tailored video, confetti cookies, and their own bag to use after the birthday is over.

How do they make birthdays even more special? The Birthday Party Project asks for wish lists from each shelter at the end of each month for the children that have birthdays the following month. Volunteers have a chance to sign up to help pick these gifts out from the Dallas warehouse and wrap the presents for each child.

If you choose to volunteer with this amazing organization, you are in for such a rewarding time. After the initial run-through of everything, you are given a sheet of paper with a child’s name and sometimes a few ideas of what they may want, other times it’s unknown. The warehouse has gifts that range from babies to 19-year-olds and holds them there to be ready for specific birthdays. Since you at least know their age, it’s up to you to pick out a few gifts you think they might like for their age group. Once you pick out the gifts, you wrap them complete with a bow and tissue paper. The Birthday Party Project makes sure every child receives a decorated card as well for the families to write a personal message.

The Birthday Party Project has celebrated 13,000 kids and hosted 2,500 parties. The hope is that in-person parties are back by next year but for now the Birthday Party Project is still doing a phenomenal job at delivering birthday magic.

Click here to visit their website if you want to learn how to get involved!  

To donate a toy for The Birthday Party Project's wishlist, click here.

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