I interviewed Lisa Vasiloff, the Executive Director of Birthday Wishes.  Birthday Wishes is a charitable organization, which brings homeless children birthday parties.  It’s a charity that Bliss Nine is proud to be a partner with and I am so glad it can contribute a portion of its profits to such a special organization which makes so many children happy.  Some may think that there are more important needs that need to be met “during these tough times”.  Earlier this year, I remember seeing a documentary about a homeless family and a 12 year old boy, who had his birthday coming up.  All the boy’s mother wanted was for her son to have a birthday cake on his birthday and to not think about their predicament for one day.  This is what Birthday Wishes helps families and homeless children do – allow them to forget what they don’t have for just a few hours on their special day and to celebrate life.

The Birthday Wishes Mission: “To bring birthday parties to homeless children. Birthday Wishes recognizes the importance of a birthday in a child’s life and believes that the gift of a birthday celebration provides normalcy, joy and hope in these children’s otherwise unsettled lives.”

Check out the Birthday Wishes site for all the details of their mission and wish lists and upcoming parties.  Below are just a few questions we asked Ms. Vasiloff regarding the organization.

Where do you operate?

We currently only throw birthday parties in shelters in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Long Island, NY.  We hope someday to expand the model so that homeless children across the country can experience the joy of a birthday party

What is your goal?

Our goal is to work with every family shelter in the states where we operate.  Either we approach shelters, or more recently, shelters will approach us.  We have about 90% of the shelters in Massachusetts covered.  Once we begin working with a shelter, we will provide a birthday party for every child who lives there. We do this by throwing one party per month at each shelter, for all the kids who have birthdays in that month.  There is no age restriction, and we have thrown parties for children ranging in age from 1 to 19.

How do people donate actual items?

People can donate birthday party items by dropping them off at one of our 4 offices, or mailing them to us.  We get boxes of goody bags, party supplies, and gifts, from families all over the country. Many kids now have “Birthday Wishes birthday parties” where they ask their guests to bring a donation (in-kind or monetary) in lieu of a gift for themselves.  Many kids also do supply drives and goody bag stuffings as part of community service projects for their churches, temples, or schools.

How many parties do you throw a month?

We currently throw approximately 30 parties each month, and deliver dozens of Birthday Boxes to our transitional shelter facilities each month.

What if someone in San Diego is interested in throwing a party for a homeless child with Birthday Wishes?

If someone in San Diego is interested in doing Birthday Wishes parties at a local shelter, they would need to contact me to discuss.  They would definitely need to identify a shelter to work with and be willing to commit to throwing monthly parties at that shelter on an ongoing basis.

Has there been a growing request for birthday parties since the economic downturn?

There has been a significant rise in requests for birthday parties. Not only are our shelters full to the brim, but we are getting calls directly from families who are homeless but cannot find space in a shelter and have been placed in motels.  We recently started working with 4 area motels which are housing the overflow of homeless families and we are delivering birthday boxes to them, as we cannot throw parties in the motel rooms.

Submitted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 7:47 pm