Kids Helping Kids

Rebecca Redd, a junior at Liberty High School, learned about Birthday Dreams when she was in sixth grade. Her sister had hosted a donation drive, and Rebecca felt inspired to get involved. Rebecca said, “I knew that there were so many kids out there that wouldn't get to experience the joy of being celebrated for their birthdays. Birthdays are something I feel is really important for children to have as they grow up. It helps them know that they are loved and cared about."

Most recently, with the help of her friend Avery, Rebecca organized a donation drive that resulted in a generous donation of gifts. She says, “Something that I enjoy about being involved with Birthday Dreams is that it always feels like I'm truly helping others. I know what I do directly benefits the children in our community; it feels so good knowing that I'm helping [a child] to have a better day.”

To others considering getting involved with Birthday Dreams, Rebecca says, “Join in! You will never regret your decision to help, and the service is fun!”

Rebecca lives in Renton with her family. She loves reading, sketching, baking, and dance (she trains in six styles). She hopes to get a degree in wildlife biology or zoology at BYU. She would like to travel the world someday. 

Adria Tao (3rd grade) learned about Birthday Dreams last winter. She had visited a local foodbank hoping to get involved but she was too young. The foodbank suggested she reach out to Birthday Dreams. She went home, looked us up online and was excited to learn about ways she could help. Adria said, “I always look forward to my birthdays, and it brings me a lot of happiness and joy, and I want other people to also feel happiness and joy.”

Adria compared Birthday Dreams to Hogwarts. She explained, “because Harry Potter didn’t get to celebrate his birthday until he went to Hogwarts. He used to write 'Happy Birthday Harry Potter' on the ground and draw a birthday cake. When it was time, he said to himself 'Blow the candles and make a wish, Harry.' That was super sad. He felt happy when he got presents from Ron, Hermione and Hagrid and celebrated his birthday with his Hogwarts friends.” 

Adria used ChatGPT to pinpoint a community that had a lot of children, she used AI to assist in building a fundraising game plan, which entailed setting up a lemonade stand within said community. She used the stand to spread the word about Birthday Dreams mission, solicit donations and sell lemonade (of course) and she donated all the money earned to Birthday Dreams. Adria said, “I feel proud of myself for making a plan, working hard, accomplishing my goals, and helping others who are in need. I was especially proud of myself when I was told that the money I raised would be enough for four birthday parties!”

Adria is an elementary student at St. Thomas School. She likes to crochet, read, play games and watch videos – and plans to continue fundraising for Birthday Dreams. To others who are considering getting involved she said, “just do it to help more people. A small donation can make a big difference

Mauricio Valdez Rios believes everything happens for a reason. He said, “I first learned about Birthday Dreams when I was in middle school (2021)…my guidance counselor asked me what I wanted to do with my life at that point I was interested in having a nonprofit, so she recommended I google the nonprofits in the area and learn more about them.” While it wouldn’t be until years later that Mauricio became involved with Birthday Dreams, he has been no stranger to philanthropy in the time since, having logged 200 volunteer hours and counting.

He has been involved with numerous organizations and fundraisers: Special Olympics, Backpack For Kids, Toys For Tots, to name a few. When it came time for him to do his Eagle Scout project [Mauricio is a part of Troop 711 in Maple Valley], he decided to organize and event to benefit Birthday Dreams. Mauricio, who was born and raised in Renton, wanted his project to be meaningful and have a positive impact in his community. He held an awareness and fundraising event at a local grocery store. He, his mother and fellow scouts handed out flyers, raised awareness and solicited donations for Birthday Dreams. In addition to the donation, Birthday Dreams had several new volunteers register following his event. The group also volunteered their time in our office help wrapping presents, sorting candy bags and making goodie bag and craft kits.

Mauricio said, “What I enjoyed most about Birthday Dreams was that the moment that I walked into their office it felt like everybody was very supportive, encouraging and wanting to help with my goal.

Mauricio, who plans to continue volunteering at Birthday Dreams, said “If someone asked me if they should get involved with Birthday Dreams, I would say yes they’re very easy to work with and they’re doing amazing things for the children in our community.”

Recently, Stella Rawley became involved with Birthday Dreams through the Teens in Public Service (TIPS) program. Stella said, “One of the main reasons I applied for a TIPS internship is because I wanted to learn more about myself while making a real difference.” TIPS arranged for Stella to intern with Birthday Dreams, and after some research, Stella knew it was a great match. Stella said, “The mission wasn’t like anything I had seen before, but it immediately made sense. After working with Birthday Dreams for a few weeks, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of Birthday Dreams before, because it seems like such a big part of the community.” Of her time with Birthday Dreams, Stella said, “I love looking over a kid’s party requests, seeing a gift they’ve requested, and then being able to wrap that exact gift for them. Especially when it’s something very specific.”

Birthday Dreams would like to thank Stella for bringing her joy and energy to Birthday Dreams, and TIPS for promoting the value of getting involved with local youth. 

12-year-old Adriana Mealy got involved with Birthday Dreams at the age of eight when she would help her mother make cakes/cupcakes. Four years later she is still at it, only now she can bake and decorate baked goods all on her own! 

Adriana says “I love to decorate the cakes. My favorite theme to bake is Mickey Mouse, because I love to pipe Mickey or Minnie faces onto the cakes. I have a big cake pan that makes the cake look like Mickey or Minnie's face!” 

Of baking and decorating cakes for Birthday Dreams, she says, “I feel like I can help kids like me and make them happy! I would say to others that if you like making cakes, you would also like to do this, and it is fulfilling to feel like you are doing something to help the world. You can make cakes for other kids who are your age, and you can think about how you like cakes on your birthday, and how they would like a cake for their birthday, too.”

In addition to helping out with Birthday Dreams, Adriana enjoys figure skating and hanging out with her family and friends! Going into the seventh grade, she already has a career path in mind; she hopes to be a psychologist. With her heart for giving, no doubt she will make a good one. Thank you, Adriana, for your help and for setting a glowing example of what it means to give back. 

We are so grateful to Parneet Parhar and the members of the Northwood Middle School Honor Society. This community-service-based club has around 40 members in grades 6th-8th and is led by four student leaders who organize and manage club activities. Their focus is on giving back to both the school and the Fairwood-Renton community, and hopefully to inspire others to do the same.

The Club learned about Birthday Dreams through one of their members, whose family had previously volunteered and thought the mission would be a great fit for their community service project. 

The students decorated over 100 party hats and ran concession stands during girls' basketball and co-ed wrestling season (raising nearly $1200). They built a website for the project, featuring donation links and our Amazon wish list, launched a QR code campaign which had donation links, and placed posters around the school, in neighborhoods, at concession stands, in local elementary schools, and at local businesses. They also promoted Birthday Dreams at teacher meetings, in school newsletters, community message threads, and email blasts. The effort brought a lot of awareness of our mission and resulted in an additional $785 in direct donations, bringing the total amount raised to nearly $1500 for Birthday Dreams! Wow!

Parneet said they want to thank the Birthday Dreams staff for their support and guidance throughout the project. They also appreciate their school advisors, Mr. Hopker and Ms. Provonsha, and the Northwood staff who helped spread the word and make this project possible. Most of all, thank you to the Fairwood and the Northwood community for stepping up with donations and encouragement. 

A big thanks to Mrs. Terrell at Cascade Christian for introducing Birthday Dreams to an amazing group of students and for making Birthday Dreams a part of the students' Impact Term (I-Term) goal.

As part of their I-Term goal, Cascade Christian students came together to help Birthday Dreams with their current needs by making over 280 goody bags, wrapping gifts, and creating bows. The I-Term goal is to serve and positively impact others for the glory of God. 

After spending two days working hard in our office, the students spent time at school making over 200 party hats; as well in the time since nearly the entire team of volunteers have had the opportunity to see their good work firsthand by volunteering at a Birthday Dreams shelter party.

The group says "Serving behind the scenes and then volunteering at a party made us appreciate how much work Birthday Dreams puts in to make these kids feel so special and loved. What a wonderful opportunity that can make such a big difference in the lives of these children and their families."

Tomio Stoner learned about Birthday Dreams from a family friend who recommended it as a good organization to volunteer with for his high school service project. For the past year-and-a-half, Tomio has been baking at least one cake a month for Birthday Dreams (36 cakes to date)! Tomio said, “I really like to bake cakes, and I've been fortunate to have fun birthday celebrations for my birthdays. I want to help make other kids' birthdays special, too.” 

Tomio took an interest in cake baking and decorating during the pandemic. He leveraged his time at home to take online classes; he learned to make different themed cakes and learned different piping techniques (rosettes are his favorite). Family and friends were fortunate to be his cake testers, helping him perfect his talent, which he now shares with Birthday Dreams. Tomio said, “It's fun to design the cakes to match the birthday party themes. My favorite cake themes are Mickey and Minnie Mouse because I get to eat the leftover Oreos. I also like making doughnut cakes with a bundt pan. My favorite cake flavor is chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It feels great to make delicious cakes and know that another kid is celebrating their birthday [with my cake]. It's especially rewarding to make a cake for someone my age or my younger brother's age. I feel like I really make a difference.” 

Fun fact: Tomio was recently voted Bake Club president at Newport High School in Bellevue, where he is a sophomore. 

Tomio's cakes (like the ones pictured) are often featured in the Amazing Cakes Made with Love section of our newsletter. To those considering baking cakes for Birthday Dreams, Tomio says, “It's a great organization that is very welcoming to volunteers. You can bake the cakes on your own schedule and be creative with the designs.”

In addition to baking cakes, Tomio has also helped at our annual Gala. Birthday Dreams is so thankful to Tomio for all he does for our organization and the kids we serve. 

Members of the National Charity League - Sammamish Chapter started volunteering with Birthday Dreams last fall. This mother/daughter volunteer organization has been busy sorting candy, making party hats and bows and volunteering at several of the YWCA Maple Valley onsite parties. We love their positive energy and enthusiasm! 

For Thisbe's 12th birthday, she wanted to help homeless children. She chose several Birthday Dreams children to donate to and asked people to bring gifts for those children instead off herself. In all, her act of kindness resulted in a donation of 15 gifts that brought smiles to children at four different parties.

Thank you, Thisbe, for choosing to help children in need as part of your birthday celebration. Happy belated birthday to you!

We’d like to recognize an amazing group of girls, Girl Scout Troop 46109. They have been together for five years, since kindergarten, and voted to donate half of the money they raised from 2024 cookie sales to Birthday Dreams! Each of the girls in the Troop chose a gift from our Amazon Wish List for a child similar in age to theirs and had enough funds left over to buy extra gifts.

Their generosity helped to make birthdays special for their peers and expressed care for others. We are grateful and encouraged to witness youth support others in their community and thankful they chose Birthday Dreams!

A huge shout out and thank you to Troop 46109, Nora, Emma (pictured), Maddie, Olivia V., Sawyer, Samantha, Holly, Shloka, Finley, Heather, Olivia N., Aleah, Marlowe, Hannah, Lydia and Leaders, Jaime, Brigid, and Maggie!

We are thankful there is a local nonprofit who works with teens specifically to place them in the community to do good work. Teens in Public Service (TIPS) pays teen leaders to serve as community service interns by pairing them with a nonprofit over the summer months. And we are so fortunate to have Annaiya Hawkins with us this summer.

Annaiya is a young woman who grew up in Renton and currently attends Albert Talley High School. She has served as ASB President, been on the cheer squad since 5^th grade, loves to dance and be outdoors, and most of all, loves helping others.

“When I first came to Birthday Dreams,” Annaiya says, “I didn’t know what to expect. Now that I’m here, I am honored and highly blessed to be working with them.”

Annaiya says that growing up as a middle-class child and facing whatever life throws at you makes you humble enough to love and appreciate all that you have. Even when she was young, she was always giving extra food or clothes to her friends and classmates who needed them. “I didn’t do this because I felt bad. I felt as if everyone should feel secure and have what they need.”

Birthday Dreams is so pleased with how Annaiya has fit right in with our staff and volunteers in bringing birthday parties to homeless children. And we couldn’t agree with her more when she says that Birthday Dreams is a family, working together to help kids who have lost everything.

In the end, there is something magical about kids helping other kids in need. And it bodes well for our future.

When Melissa Riddington mentioned Birthday Dreams to her nine-year-old daughter Ava Burrowes, Ava was eager to get involved. 

Melissa said, “My daughter and I have often talked about gratitude for the things we have and often take for granted. We also talk about (and act on) helping our neighbors. It is something we do, not because we feel we ‘should do’, but because we truly enjoy it. Ava had asked if she could volunteer at either an animal shelter or with children earlier in the year. I came across Birthday Dreams and was utterly inspired by what you do." 

When it came time to plan Ava’s 9th birthday, Melissa showed her daughter the website and asked if she wanted to give the gift of a birthday party to a little girl or boy, to which Ava said, "YES!"

Ava said, “I wanted to get involved because I like helping people, especially with Birthdays!” And help is exactly what she did. Instead of asking for gifts from friends and family, she asked them to consider a $5-$15 donation that could be used for a Birthday-In-A-Box for a child in need. Nearly $100 was raised, and Melissa contributed the balance needed for a complete box [$150].

Because of Ava's donation, a little girl turning 8 received a Unicorn-themed Birthday-in-a-Box. The box included a blue tooth speaker, pajamas, bath bombs, Dr. Squishy Maker, and more, along with a cake and party supplies. When asked how that made her feel she said, “It felt great because now someone who wouldn’t get a birthday party now gets a birthday party and that makes me feel happy.” 

To her friends and family who helped Ava said, “Thank you so, so much for helping a seven-year-old turning eight years old get a Unicorn Party.”

Melissa’s mom said, “I’m really proud of my daughter for having chosen this, over gifts for herself. I think it’s a good grounding for empathy, gratitude and kindness. Kindness is so necessary these days and bringing a birthday party to life for a young child, can make such a huge impact to their self-esteem, confidence and self-worth. A true gift. I would utterly encourage other parents to consider doing something similar." You can click here to view current Birthday Dreams party needs. 

Birthday Dreams thanks Ava, her family and friends, for their selflessness and generosity. Thanks also to Ava and Melissa for spreading the word about the Birthday Dreams mission. 

For over five years, CJ (18), Annabelle (17), and their mother, Kristine, have shared their love of baking by creating unique and thoughtful cakes for Birthday Dreams recipients.

Regularly featured in the Amazing Cakes section of this newsletter, their unique creations range from emoji to space-themed and everything in between.

Annabelle and CJ shared that they do a lot of crafts as a family and love being able to create things for others to enjoy. Annabelle shared that her family really likes space and science, so their recent rocket themed cake was really fun to do together. For CJ, one of the most memorable cakes they created was for a 17-year-old who really liked the rap artist Tupac. CJ spent a lot of time researching to make sure that cake was perfect for that particular birthday. A huge thank you to the Kisky teens (and their mom) for all you do to support Birthday Dreams!

Meet the Kisky's

Meet the Dickson's

With the support of their parents, Kevin and Savanna Dickson, Annabelle (8) and Kade (6) rocked their toy drive this year! They collected and donated 37 toys worth $500!

When asked what made her want to collect to for homeless kids, Annabelle said “I get excited doing the toy drive because I know that every toy is going to help someone celebrate their birthday with opening presents that we helped collect and I like giving toys to kids who don’t have them."

Birthday Dreams is always touched to see the youth in our community giving back. Thank you, Annabelle and Kade, for making Birthday Dreams come true for deserving children in our community!