We had the funnest youth activity last month. For about a month before we had a birthday party favor/toy drive and then got all the young women and men together to put birthday gift bags together for the Cheerful Givers organization. Cheerful Givers is an organization headquartered here in the Twin Cities that works to collect birthday bags for girls and boys that would not otherwise get them. Volunteers can host drives like the one we did, assemble bags, and then drop them of at local shelters and food shelves to be given to the children on their birthdays.
I was a little worried about how much stuff we would actually have. We have had toy drives and coat drives and food drives all over the place lately. Can I just say I was totally shocked at the HUGE amount of items the kids brought with them that night!!!
I actually took these pictures before the final couple of kids arrived with about this much more birthday fun in their bags. Our original goal was 30 filled birthday bags. By the time we were done, we had 45 well filled bags :0} Warm Fuzzies!
Basically, we set up two tables, one with girl things, one with boy things, and lined the kids up to fill the bags. They were to put ten new toys, like books, stuffed animals, balls, puzzles, stickers or crayons, in the bags.
We also threw in candy and party favors galore.
This group of kids has put together hygiene kits, done yard work, put in walkways at local parks and all sorts of other service projects. The Cheerful Givers project was probably the most exciting service project yet. Just to be in the room with piles of birthday stuff sitting around was enough to make me hyper :0}
Want to host a Cheerful Givers Blitz??? You can find out more about the program organized here in Minneapolis/St. Paul, or contact your local food band or homeless shelter to find out about opportunities in your area.
What better time to get the kids excited about giving than during this fabulous holiday season!
What a neat idea!!!
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