Delco girl throws backpack party to celebrate 12th birthday
MARPLE TOWNSHIP» When 11-year-old Julia Craskey celebrates her twelfth birthday on July 28,she will already have marked the occasion with a party based upon a unique theme. While parties for other girls her age may be designed around themes of mermaids, Emojis, Hollywood movies or pink unicorns, Julia chose to host her birthday party centered around a backpack theme.
The soon-to-be sixth grade student at St. Pius School in Broomall invited all of the girls in her grade to be her guests at her fifth annual “backpack party,” held at the Lawrence Park Swim Club Wednesday. The girls swam, played some basketball and sang “Happy Birthday” to their friend. In turn, Julia asked if they would bring a backpack, school supplies or both, in lieu of gifts for her. After the party, Julia added these gifts to her already sizable collection of supplies that she’s gathered throughout the year for Cityteam’s back-to-school drive, so that children, who may not have the means, will be able to start the 2017-18 schoolyear with a brand new backpack and other needed school supplies.
“I started doing this because I get enough presents from my family,” smiled the generous birthday girl, who lives with her mom and four siblings in Broomall. “You know the kids at Cityteam don’t always get a lot of new things. The backpack may be the only new thing that they get all summer. When I see them smiling from ear to ear after receiving their backpack and supplies, that is the best gift that I could possibly receive!”
Julia’s mom, Nancy Gibbons, is the Major Gift Development Officer at Cityteam Philadelphia in Chester so Julia has personally seen the families and individuals served by Cityteam since she was a little girl, and had an upclose look at how they have struggled. Previous to Gibbons joining the staff there, the Craskeys volunteered at Cityteam as a family, delivering toys at Christmastime and throughout the year when other special opportunities arose. Julia’s siblings are Allie, 16, Jack, 19, Bobby, 21 and Bridget, 23.
“When Julia, the youngest of my five children, was going to turn eight, she wanted a birthday party,” explained Gibbons. “I saw the hurt feelings that happened when my older children or their friends were excluded from being invited to classmates’ parties. At the time, there were 20 girls in Julia’s class. She wanted to be inclusive of everyone, but when we thought of her receiving 20 gifts, that just seemed too excessive. That’s when Julia suggested the idea of the backpack donations instead of gifts.”
The July backpack collection mushroomed into a year round effort for Julia. With the magic of social media, more and more people saw the flyer about her collection and contributed. She placed a bin outside of her front door so friends, family and neighbors can drop off supplies and backpacks at their convenience, right up until the final Cityteam backpack stuffing day of August 17.
“Now that word has spread about Julia’s annual birthday drive, our friends and family drop things off all year,” Gibbons chimed in. “They might find notebooks or binders on sale, so they pick them up if they see a deal and just drop them off to Julia.”
The birthday party honoree appears to be a busy tween. When she’s not collecting backpacks, she enjoys hanging with friends, running track, playing CYO basketball and field hockey, watching TV, dancing tap, jazz, hiphop and ballet at Art in Motion Dance Studio, and playing with her dogs, Belle and Cole.
Julia, who said she only gets a new backpack every two years or so for herself because “they usually last for more than one year,” seemed thrilled with the backpacks that she collected so far this summer. She smiled as she proudly displayed backpacks decorated with colorful characters of Frozen, the Minions and Ninja Turtles, placing them next to their more generic, understated counterparts.
Now that her friends are a little older, Julia is also inviting them to sign up to volunteer for the annual Backpack Stuffing Days at Cityteam Philadelphia, which will be held on Aug. 15, 16, and 17, from 1:30-3:30 p.m.; Aug. 15, from 6-8 p.m.; and Aug. 17, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Julia, who participates in the stuffing days every year, explained how volunteers are given lists provided by the schools. The volunteers must then take each backpack and fill it with the age and grade-appropriate required items on each list. Volunteers are expected to stuff about 2200 backpacks that have been donated all year.
Carrying her backpack volunteerism full circle, Julia also attends the backpack distribution day each year, which takes place at Cityteam’s annual kids’ carnival. This year, distribution will take place August 19. The full day of fun at the carnival, which takes place at the park right next to Cityteam’s location at 634 Sproul Street, includes cotton candy, face painting, games and much more for the kids. Volunteers, who must also preregister for this day, arrive at the park at 8 a.m. to begin set-up. and dropped off