For Random Acts supporter and educator Laura Rogers, every child deserves to feel valued and celebrated. With pandemic lockdowns causing disruptions in schools and kindergartens throughout 2021, many birthday parties had to be canceled. But Laura saw an opportunity to help restore some cheer and create cherished memories for at least a few children in Madison, Wisconsin. “I am a big fan of Box of Balloons as an organization,” Laura said, which aims to enable every child to have a birthday party, no matter their circumstances. So, with the help of Random Acts, Laura set about creating her version in a Birthday Box.
Many Hands Create Joy
Applying for funding for her act, Laura used the resulting grant to create three birthday boxes for local kindergarten children who had missed out on celebrating their birthday earlier in 2021. But she did not do it alone, involving other school staff and children in after-school programs in choosing the boxes’ design and contents before Laura purchased everything they needed. “The kindergarten and first graders were a little confused about when the birthday party was and if we were invited to the party,” Laura explained. There were other pandemic challenges too, such as a shortage of staff who were well, and materials out of stock in stores. “All the boxes were a great success, though!”
Worth the Wait
While Laura and her helpers did not witness the results of their efforts, the creativity and collaboration going into the act had their own rewards. Laura says she is very much drawn to service projects for kids. “I’m also proud of setting a precedent of a service project as staff,” she adds. Next time, Laura hopes she can help students better make the connections between unconditionally volunteering to gift to others and how the boxes represented all the sadly missed birthday parties. But Laura not only had fun performing her act, she already has plans for the future creation of Birthday Boxes as an ongoing collaborative school project, inspiring a new generation of kindness givers along the way.
Anyone can perform a random act of kindness, big or small. Here is how we can do it together!
