Needy kids celebrate birthdays
For a little while yesterday, dozens of homeless Hub kids and students in foster care were able to put aside their difficult living situations to celebrate the best day of the year: their birthdays.
There were balloons, two big cakes (one chocolate and one vanilla), and ice cream. The kids sat at tables representing their birthday months. There were sparkly decorations. They danced to Disney music and wore cardboard crowns decorated with crayons.
There were lots of smiles and kids bubbling with excitement. Everyone went home with a goodie bag. It was a big, fun birthday party for kids who may not otherwise have one.
“We know your birthday is the most important day of your life,” Gerda Audry told the birthday boys and girls gathered at Mildred Avenue K-8 School. Audry is with Summer Circle of Fun & Enrichment, a program run by Boston Public School’s Homeless Education Resource Network, which has held annual parties for the city’s homeless kids for more than a decade. There are more than 3,000 homeless students in city schools.
Yesterday, about 55 youngsters, ages 5 to 13, from Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, celebrated their birthdays. About two-thirds of the youngsters are homeless, living in shelters or hotels. Others live with relatives or are in foster care.
“Some of the parents are not financially able to provide parties for large groups so we just want to give them something, even if they can or cannot, we don’t want to know that. We just want to know that this is the time they can celebrate with friends,” Audry told me.
No matter what their story, everyone wanted to celebrate their special day.
Ja’lanie Williams, 7, and LeMar Beck Jr., 5, have been staying with their grandmother, Sharon Watson Beck, and other relatives while their mother tries to find new housing.
“So many of our children in the neighborhood don’t get birthday parties,” said Beck, a retired Boston teacher. “And for them to celebrate all of the children, whether their birthday was this month or not, was a blessing. Because now they know that even if they didn’t have a party at home, they had a party this year.”
Mary William, who founded HERN, knows the plight of these children all too well. When William was 9 years old, her family’s home was destroyed by a fire.
“I know,” William said, “what it is to not have your own bed.”
At least for yesterday, none of these kids had to think about that feeling.