Hello Everyone! I can't believe it's been over a year since I sent out my last update. I thought I would have a little more free time when both kids were in school for full days but as many of you know, it doesn't work out that way. I'm sorry for the delay; here's an update on our "Birthday Bags".
Our "Birthday Bag" program is still going strong!! Yesterday we dropped off our 196th birthday bag (we were accompanied by News10, which was very exciting, and I'll write more about that soon). We've settled into a nice groove; we've learned the best places to get really good deals and supplies, and we've learned some of the gifts that are more popular than others. Danny and Sarah still enjoy working on the bags and helping to brighten the birthdays of Auburn area children. We continue to donate 10 bags a month and each month all of the bags get distributed to parents who have a child with a birthday that month.
This past year we've had some really nice help. Our neighbor Gena gave us 9 new Bionicle and Knights Kingdom figures. Over the years, Gena's boys and Danny have really enjoyed building Bionicles so it was exciting to have some to share. Gena's generosity supplied us with older-boy gifts for 9 months. Having a great gift for older boys is AWESOME! Thank you Gena!
My friend Michelle recently donated $20 to our program and I purchased 80 boxes of birthday candles. That's 8 months worth of special birthday "wishes"! When's the last time $20 touched so many children? Making a wish and blowing out candles is such a part of childhood birthdays and it's exciting to be a part of that. Thank you Michelle for helping us share this joy with so many children!
My husband Doug has been working on a website/blog for us so that we can keep everyone updated on our progress. Now I have no excuse for not publishing updates! It's going to be great having somewhere I can post our news and where friends and family can check in on us when they have time. We'll be keeping you posted as we move forward. A special thank you to Doug!
Many other friends and family members have offered their support and encouragement too. We've had helpers come and make bags with us, which is always fun! Thank you to everyone who checks in with us, encourages us, and helps us. Your support keeps us going!
During the last school year Sarah continued to accompany me when we dropped off bags. The food closet closes at 2:00 and Danny didn't get out of school until 2:15 so he wasn't able to come with us. This year, Sarah also gets out at 2:15 so I've dropped bags off a few times without them. I really miss having them with me and Sarah mentioned that she misses delivering the bags so I'm going to check into dropping bags off on Saturdays during the school year so we can all go together again. One of the things the kids enjoyed about summer vacation was being able to drop off bags at the food closet.
We wish everyone a happy and healthy 2006 Holiday Season! I am really looking forward to the January clearance sales so we can stock up on birthday gifts for 2007. Doug and I have given up about 1/4 of our closet space to store all of our wonderful supplies and we're willing to give up even more if we need to! As always, please watch for those bargains and let me know when you find them so I can go stock up or next time you see a great deal, pick up a few things for us. It really is fun to give a child a birthday surprise!
All our best,
Cheri
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