Belinda and Celina help foster kids have the birthday celebrations they deserve!
Social services budgets are stretched so thin that there aren’t funds for extras like birthday parties for kids in foster care. But these two Tampa, Florida, nurses know every child deserves to be celebrated on their special day— so they made it their mission to do just that!
“Okay, I understand,” Belinda Leto thanked the child welfare worker over the phone and, hanging up, she told her best friend, Celina Saunders, “She said they don’t have funds for birthday parties in their budget.”
Best friends since nursing school, the two Tampa moms had recently paired up for their church’s Christmas Angel Tree project. The high point was visiting the families and passing out toys to kids who might not otherwise get a Christmas.
Like the three young kids living with their grandmother who was struggling to keep them together and out of foster care.
“You can’t know what this means to us,” the elderly woman had choked with gratitude. “I didn’t have money for Christmas.”
Then, as she’d watched her grandchildren excitedly open their presents, the elderly woman shared how much it saddened her that she couldn’t give the kids more. In fact, the eldest boy’s birthday was coming up and she’d told Belinda and Celina, “I don’t know how we will even be able to celebrate it.”
“Maybe we can find someone to help,” Celina and Belinda had told her. But budgets were just too tight everywhere they called.
“This isn’t right,” Belinda sighed. “Birthdays are important, especially to kids with so little going for them.” The friends finally found an agency that agreed to buy the young boy a gift, but Belinda and Celina wanted to do more.
“Every kid deserves to celebrate their special day with a party, cake and presents,” they agreed.
And, in that moment, they both knew they had to find a way to make that happen.
Making kids feel special
Realizing it would be difficult to throw parties for individual foster kids living in various homes, Belinda and Celina visited a local foster group home. “Do you have any birthdays coming up?” they asked.
“We have two boys with birthdays this month,” the director told the women.
“Wonderful,” Celina smiled, and a week later, after dipping into their own pockets, she and Belinda returned bearing cake, gifts, games and prizes for all.
The birthday boys beamed, and Belinda and Celina’s hearts soared seeing their joy.
Wanting to celebrate more kids, the friends decided to make their project into an official nonprofit (Celebratebirthdays.org), and donations began coming in.
After several more group home birthday parties for foster kids, the women approached the local Boys and Girls Club, which ran an after-school program for disadvantaged kids. “How soon can you start?” the director smiled.
“Party time!” the women called as they swept into the game room with a donated cake as big as a door, party goods and gifts for that month’s birthday boys and girls.
One little girl rushed up to Belinda and Celina and gave them each a big hug. “I never had a birthday party before,” she said. “Thank you.”
Their hearts overflowing, Belinda and Celina promised, “We’re going to come back for every one of your birthdays!”
Inspiring joy
In just two years, Belinda and Celina have shined the spotlight on over 1,000 birthday boys and girls. “The kids’ spirits soar for days after the parties,” says Barbara Bennett, executive director of St. Petersburg’s Carlton Manor Foster Homes. “The kids appreciate the treats and gifts, but what really makes the difference is knowing someone cares enough to come and celebrate their special day.”
The pandemic has limited the parties, but Belinda and Celina refuse to let a birthday go uncelebrated and send a “Birthday in a Box” with a cake, presents, party supplies, games and prizes. “This is as much a gift to us as it is to the kids,” Belinda says. “Absolutely,” Celina agrees. “We feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude from all the kids. It’s a marvelous gift we get to unwrap again and again.”
“We feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude from all the kids,” says Celina