Birthday Blessings gives children in foster care something to call their own

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Birthday Blessings is a non-profit organization with headquarters in West Plains. The organization has volunteer teams in Hannibal, Sedalia, Troy and Warsaw.

Birthday Blessings provides children in foster care with resources to meet their physical and emotional needs. More than 20,000 children are in foster care in Missouri. Birthday Blessings assists local kids in Marion, Ralls and Monroe counties. The organization receives funds from United Way of the Mark Twain Area to help with costs.

Many children enter foster care with just the clothes on their backs and never had a birthday party. Some have never been given gifts on their birthday. It is important for children to have something to call their own, whether it’s a stuffed animal or a toy they have wanted for a long time. The mission of Birthday Blessings is to supply at-risk kids with hope and dignity.

Children who come into the foster care system have lived in difficult environments. Some children may be placed in foster homes because of abuse, while others may have been neglected. Other children may be placed in care because of the financial situation facing their family and an inability to provide food or other essential items. Children placed in foster care often have trauma and special needs.

Birthday Blessings serves every child referred to them by Children’s Division staff or other local support agencies. As a non-profit organization, it supplies many different things to children in foster care. One of the main things provided are birthday party supplies and gifts to children in foster care, ensuring that birthdays become a positive experience.

In a press release, Birthday Blessings executive director Shannon Vonallmen said, “Some of our kids have never had a new item before, and so maybe we give them a bedding set so they have something familiar to take from home to home.”

For many children who have been in care, they have put their belongings in trash bags to carry them. Birthday Blessings supplies duffels and backpacks to counteract a negative message that can be conveyed with a trash bag.

“We’re giving them backpacks, duffel bags, hygiene supplies because those kids are very aware of their circumstances, and they just want to look and smell like their peers,” Vonallmen said.

Birthday Blessings encourages independence by supplying teenagers in foster care with baskets of basic household goods when they transition to adulthood. Birthday Blessings sends seasonal care packages to kids living in residential facilities to let them know someone cares about them and is thinking about them. The organization supplies baskets of baby care items to teen moms when they bring home a newborn from the hospital.

Whatever the need, Birthday Blessings has found ways to fill it.

“We’ve done anything from pay for high school pictures for seniors so they can have normalizing experiences to paying for medicine when Medicaid has been screwed up,” Vonallmen said.

Donations to Birthday Blessings can provide many different things to kids in foster care. A volunteer team in Hannibal distributes resources to children in care throughout northeast Missouri.

To donate to Birthday Blessings or for more information about the organization, visit birthday-blessings.org.