This Woman Created ‘The Birthday Party Project’ To Help Homeless Kids Celebrate Their Special Day

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Are you ready for your feel-good moment of the day? Coz here it comes!

The woman in this picture above is Paige Chenault, and she is the Dallas-based founder of an organization called The Birthday Party Project. This company exists to make people feel good by doing good. Paige has a career in event management and even had her own event-planning company.

In 2011, after the birth of her daughter, Paige was struck with a thought that helped her launch her latest venture. After seeing an image of a little boy from Haiti who was malnourished, she realized that her child would always have love, joy and happiness, especially when it came to celebrating birthdays, but not every child in the world has that privilege. She then knew she wanted to change that and use her experience to give back.

“It just sort of hit me. This kid will never feel celebrated like I could celebrate my daughter. I could do a lot of things for my kid, but I want to do it in a greater way with a bigger purpose,” she said.

In 2012 The Birthday Party Project was born, and the idea was to throw celebrations for kids in need and those who are homeless, whose parents cannot afford to pay for a party.

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“The Mission of The Birthday Party Project is to bring joy to homeless children through the magic of birthdays,” says a statement on the website.

They have a team of amazing volunteers known as birthday enthusiasts, who wear awesome shirts bearing the slogan “eat. sleep. party. repeat” and have so far celebrated over 1300 birthdays with over 11,500 children! Initially they started out hosting one party a month at a local shelter with 60 kids, but over the past four years they have grown to 8 different cities across the country, and celebrate at all roughly agencies each month.

Aside from volunteer helpers, kids in the community have the chance to contribute in a meaningful way by sharing their own birthday. They can collect presents they may receive from their own parties or raise funds, and choose to share it with a child who is less fortunate through TBPP.

The child being celebrated receives a gift worth approximately $30, a cake, and lots of new friends and loving people to celebrate their special day with.

The Birthday Party Project is a non profit which relies on generous donations in order to continue their commitment to kids across America, bringing a smile and joy in places where there often is no hope. Some of the parents of the children are in awe of what Paige and her team are doing, and are incredibly blessed with the way their child is showered with love.

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“Most of us don’t have the energy, the funds or even the correct channels to provide our own children with a celebration like this. I couldn’t give Jayden what they gave him. It was so beautiful,” one mother from Texas told Today.com.

“Coming from such pain and trauma, it’s so nice to be able to relax for a minute, take a breather and to see that smile back on my child’s face. I have no words to describe the happiness and joy that I am feeling,” said another woman who’s son had a birthday party organized at a domestic violence shelter.

In 2015 alone TBPP will host over 180 parties, each of them themed, and will work with various non-profit organizations, shelters and centers to bring some much-welcomed fun into the life of young children.

Paige said she doesn’t just want to celebrate a kid’s birthday, but to help them feel loved, valued and adored.

“My goal is that each child feels something that lets them know how important they are, how much they matter. They deserve to be celebrated, that in this moment of chaos in their life, this moment of confusion, that there is light and that there are people out there cheering for them.

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In an interview with the Dallas Observer in 2014, Paige shares about the background of some of the parents and children she comes across, emphasizing why her company’s presence in their lives is so meaningful.

“We get to party with kids that are coming out of domestic violence. We get to party with kids whose moms are being rehabilitated from sex trafficking. We get to party with families that are truly just in this chronic homeless system. And so I feel like we have this unique opportunity to serve these kids and meet their needs right where they are,” she said.

And for those of you who want to be part of this incredible movement and donate (why wouldn’t you?!) you should know that 100% of the money received goes toward deserving kids.

There is nothing that makes us more excited than to share inspiring stories about women who are changing lives and impacting their world. We are so in awe of what Paige has created and hope that The Birthday Party Project continues to expand further and further to help families in need feel loved and valued even if it is just for one day.

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