In our house we take March Madness seriously, no it’s not because of basketball, it’s because all three of my sons have birthdays this month…which of course leads to true March Madness. I am always trying to find ways to remind my boys how fortunate they are and birthdays are always a good opportunity for gratitude.
This year I wanted to find a cause that involved birthdays that the boys could contribute too and I came across the most remarkable cause called Cheerful Givers.Org and the person behind it all, just as amazing.
He name is Robin Steele and in 1994 she was touring a local shelter in her community in Minnesota and discovered that parents often looked for a favorite box of cereal or canned good to give their child as a birthday gift. Robin couldn’t bear the thought of a child’s birthday passing without any acknowledgement and immediately got to work assembling 12 birthday bags that she dropped of at her local homeless shelter.
The next day Robin received a call from the shelter to share the story of the birthday bag. A woman had come into the shelter looking for some sort of favorite food item to recognize her child’s birthday and panicked when there wasn’t anything. However, when the shelter gave her a birthday bag the woman replied, “The whole way over on the bus I prayed and prayed that there would be something here for me to give my child, but I never dreamed there would be something so beautiful.”
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Robin got to work, enlisted volunteers and began Cheerful Givers. However, three years later Robin still wondered if she was doing enough. So in 1997 she traveled to India to meet with Mother Teresa. Robin met with her hours before her death and returned with a message that we are all hungry for love.
She was more determined than ever to ensure that her birthday bags, “celebrates those lives that matter and that they are a symbol of unconditional love we have for our anonymous neighbors and their children.”
Today, over 622,045 birthday bags have been distributed and counting. March madness in all its glory. The celebration of birthdays is the celebration of life and Robin Steele reminds us all why it is such a gift.
Charity Matters.
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