Wrapped in love: How the Statesboro Service League is making foster children’s birthdays brighter
In communities throughout Georgia, dedicated groups of volunteers are making sure every child in foster care served by Families 4 Families can have a birthday to remember.
Through its birthday bag program, Families 4 Families partners with individuals and organizations to buy, wrap and deliver gifts to each of the agency’s regional offices. Case managers then bring these gifts to kids on their birthdays.
“It’s a way for the whole community to come around and support kids in foster care,” said Bridget Howard, the support services coordinator for Families 4 Families’ southeast region of Georgia. “Some of the kids who come into care, their birthday has never been celebrated.”
For many years, the Statesboro Service League has been the primary donor for birthday bags in Bridget’s region and south central Georgia. They’re an organization that encourages women to volunteer and serve in their local community through a wide variety of projects.
Every month, the Service League’s volunteers receive a request list and purchase gifts for kids in foster homes from Statesboro to Blackshear to Savannah.
“It’s heartwarming,” said Jenny Brenner, the Service League’s birthday bag committee chairperson. “Every lady in this organization is ready to serve and is always looking for opportunities. It definitely feels good to give back.”
The gifts are funded through proceeds from an annual attic sale they hold at the Statesboro fairgrounds.
“It’s a small thing that we do to make it personal because it’s their birthday,” Jenny said. “I have two young children, and that’s one of their favorite days of the year — their birthday. I couldn’t imagine not having something for them to open and just get excited and to celebrate them.”
At any given time, there are about 50 kids in care in the region that the Service League supports.
“I’m just so appreciative of [the Service League’s] faithfulness to commit to doing this for so long; it’s a huge blessing,” Bridget said.
She added that these gifts can be an important way to help ease the transition into foster care. They offer a chance to celebrate the child and remind them that the situation they’re in isn’t their fault.
“A lot of foster families really do make a big deal of the kids’ birthdays,” Bridget said. “They’re all really good about it. They’ll have parties or cakes or do all those things.”
Foster parents — not just the children — also appreciate the gifts that volunteers like the Service League provide.
“They feel like they’re heard and they’re seen and that we’re helping to care for the kids in their home,” Bridget said. “We’re coming alongside them and partnering with them, even though we’re not carrying the full burden.”
Gifts are needed for the more than 250 children across all the regions served by Families 4 Families, and there are opportunities to help every month. The Families 4 Families volunteer portal has real-time needs, like birthday bags and other volunteering opportunities. Interested in helping? Learn more here.
