My twins fifth birthday was yesterday, and we had their birthday party at our favourite indoor playground, Kidtopia, located in Oakville, Ontario. Kids love it there because not only is the play space large, bright, clean and well equipped, there are computer/arcade type games there that they can play to earn coupons, and then redeem for prizes.
My good friend Betts and her twin girls, Summer and Willow, had told us about a great idea to reduce consumption, thus helping the environment, as well being able to donate to charity. These girls asked each guest at their 7th birthday party to give them each two $5 bills, one for them to keep and one to be donated to breast cancer research in honour of the women in their lives who have experienced the disease.
I was thrilled that Sabrina and Gregory agreed to the idea of asking their guests to do the same thing (although I didn’t really didn’t give them a choice!). So, we wrote this idea on notes attached to the invitations, (or sent emails) and asked our guests to give each of them two $5 bills, one to keep for themselves and one to donate to our favourite cause, a family in the Philipines that we help on a regular basis. The idea was well received by all the parents I spoke with and all complied!
I admit that I was a little concerned that my 5year olds might be disappointed when they discovered that they weren’t going to have gifts to open, even though I had explained the idea to them and they had gone along with it. It didn’t help that a week earlier, my older daughter Paulina had received a plethora of bags and boxes for her own birthday. I hadn’t been able to convince her to ask for money and to donate half, and just asking for money was not something I would go for with school friends! (When she saw how much money her little brother and sister received, she swore she would do this next year!)
When we got home from Kidtopia, we opened each card and made a pile of their money, being careful to keep it separated. Trust me when I say that the excitement with which Gregory and Sabrina opened each envelope was great, comparable to opening a boxed gift, but what was amazing was the attention that was given to each and every card. They didn’t even care about the money!! Normally the cards are overlooked and found later, or lost and forgotten, but not this time. They sat and spent time admiring each cards’ artwork, a lot of which was handmade, and trying to figure out who sent which one by sounding out the names. They were not at all disappointed, in fact it was quite the opposite. We put their cards into little gift bags and they are still carrying them around and taking out the cards to look at them!
While we do know people who have been affected by cancer, diabetes, and MS, we decided to send this money to a family in the Philipines who have five young children to support and are not working. They live in an extremely poor neighbourhood where people don’t have cars, can’t afford to run their small refrigerators, and don’t have enough money to send their children to school. They live in 40 degree temperatures day in and out, and do not have air conditioning. On a daily basis this family cannot feed their children as much as their children would like to eat. They never have meat as it is too costly. This birthday money will ensure that this family and likely several others on their street will experience Christmas, with a few gifts and a nice meal. Without it, they would not.
We are lucky that my sister in law is actually from this community, and that she will be visiting the Philipines for Christmas. Her mother still lives there, next door to this particular family. She will take our donation with her when she goes to visit and make sure it is used to bring some small joy to the lives of people who have so much less than we do. Unfortunately, for every family that she is able to give something to, there will be families that receive nothing. We cannot help them all, but at least with the generosity of our own friends we know we have helped a few. When I told my sister in law that we were sending money to help this particular family, she cried. She remembers too well what it is like to grow up shoeless, hungry and overlooked by Santa.
Thank you to the kind families who gave Sabrina and Gregory money for their birthday. I really, really appreciate it, and I promise it will be used in the best way possible.
