By: Noelle Lambert
The Charity of the Month for March is:
Birthday Wishes!
Birthday Wishes is an organization whose mission is to provide birthday parties to children experiencing homelessness. They improve and empower the lives of homeless children and their families by providing joy, play and hope through the magic of a birthday party.
Birthday Wishes of Long Island began having parties in only one shelter. Today they work with 80 shelters/transitional housing programs in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and each month they give more than 120 children a birthday celebration!
Every birthday child receives supplies to have a party with all the children that live in the shelter such as; juice boxes, cake or cupcakes, candles, decorations, paper goods and a wonderful bag of presents to open! Birthday Wishes serves children ages 1-19.
There a many ways the public can get involved with Birthday Wishes of Long Island! One way is to attend or sponsor their 2nd annual Food, Wine, & Wishes Event on March 20th at Appliance World of Huntington, located at 414 New York Ave. There will be wonderful raffle prizes and food tastings. Additionally, Birthday Wishes is looking for people to volunteer their time as drivers or party coordinators. Please visit their website at www.longisland.birthdaywishes.org for volunteer position descriptions and fill out their volunteer application if you’re interested in becoming a volunteer! Lastly, being that they rely heavily on donations of toys from generous donors like you to throw a birthday party, they are always looking for more of these donations.
As teens are their fastest growing demographic that they serve, they are always in need of teen gifts. They are currently looking for gifts for children of the ages 14-19. They love to throw birthday parties for the children they serve, which reflects a birthday party that would be thrown for any child anywhere. Therefore, please make sure your donations are brand new only! Below is a list of gift items that they are seeking:
For Boys: Basketballs, Axe Gift Sets, String Bags, Ear Buds, Water Bottles, Adult Size Socks, Large or X-Large Hoodies.
For Girls: Nail Polish, Manicure Sets, Make-Up, Make-Up Bags, Perfume, Adult Coloring Books With Markers, Body Wash and Lotion.
All donations can be dropped off at their Hicksville office, located at 15 Cantiague Rock Road. Please call ahead to make sure a staff member is on site to assist you: (516) 390-3505. Together we can help bring more smiles to children across the island!
Another Organization You Can Get Involved With:
The Mercy Inn ~ Wyandanch
The Mercy Inn is a wonderful soup kitchen, located at 17 South 20th Street in
Wyandanch. They serve hot meals from 12-1PM Monday-Friday and they also prepare a take home bag for each of their guests, consisting of two sandwhiches, a drink and a snack. No one every leaves their soup kitchen hungry.
They serve an average of 110 people daily and they operate solely on donations. Their volunteers are extremely dedicated and hardworking people. If you would like to
volunteer with or donate to The Mercy Inn, please feel free to call them at
(631) 643-5117 for more information.
If you can benefit from their services, you’re always welcome to stop by during their hours of operation for a lovely meal!
If you would like your organization to be featured in this column, please email Noelle@SouthBaysNeighbor.com!
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