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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 2016)
DECEMBER 9, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 KeizerCommunity KEIZERTIMES.COM Every child deserves a birthday party By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes When Laura Perez, former principal at Whiteaker Mid- dle School, returned from a mission trip to Mexico com- mitted to make a difference in her community, she met with Sheronne Blasi, and the two friends went on a long walk. “We just had a shared vi- sion for the work we’d like to do and the impact we’d like to have in our community,” Perez said. That vision was Simply Birthdays, a non-profi t cre- ated by Perez and Blasi that holds birthday parties at two local homeless shelters—Si- monka Place in Keizer and Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network, as well as provides party supplies for the Center for Hope and Safety. “I grew up in poverty and didn’t really have birthday parties,” Blasi said. “So when we heard about work like this, for me it was very, very personal.” The parties, which are held each month, begin with crafts and games. The kids then sing Happy Birthday, blow out the candles, eat cake and then open pres- ents. Thanks to generous dona- tions, each birthday child re- ceives four to fi ve gifts total- Submitted A child blows out hel candles duling a palty at a local homeless sheltel plovided by the non-plofi t Simply Bilthdays. ing about $75. The rest of the kids and parents are given goodie bags and books. “This is one of those ex- periences that provides some normalization for kids,” Per- ez said. “When they can go to school on Monday and talk about their birthday party, that’s a shared experi- ence that a lot of kids have so they’re able to talk about all the kids that came to their party and the presents that they got and the activities that they did.” At Simonka, there are typ- ically 12-15 kids and another 20 adults. Perez remembers one of the fi rst parties when a woman living at the shelter who just couldn’t believe they were there, shook and pressed two dollar bills in her hand afterwards. “I don’t have much but this is to help with the next party,” the woman said. “There have been many parties where either the birthday child or the mom will come up afterwards and say to us ‘thank you, this is my best birthday ever’ or ‘this is my only birthday party’ and to have a child say ‘this is my best birthday’ and they’re living in a homeless shelter. That says a lot,” Blasi said. While providing birth- ATTENTION KEIZER HOMEOWNERS VISIT US TODAY And learn how to qualify for UP TO $ 1,300 in cash incentives! 1695 Market St NE, Salem CCB#48630 • 503.364.6339 homefi restove.com • salemgrill.com As an Energy Trust of Oregon trade ally, we can help you access cash incentives to make it easier to improve your home’s energy effi ciency. KEIZERTIMES/Delek Wiley Shelonne Blasi, left, and Laula Pelez, folmel plincipal of Whiteakel Middle School cleated Simply Bilthdays two yeals ago. days parties to children who wouldn’t otherwise have one is Simply Birthday’s primary mission, Blasi and Perez also want to help people see a dif- ferent face for homelessness. “A lot of times people do want to get involved and they want to help the com- munity but they’re not ex- actly sure how to do that so this is their fi rst step in,” Per- ez said. “So they might come to our party and they might help hand out cake and ice cream or goodie bags but that got them in the shelter. There are other things they can do once they come in. It gets them in the door so we do have a secondary mis- sion that’s pretty important as well.” Blasi said the support of the community has been “overwhelming” and “awe- inspiring.” Marco Polo Global Res- taurant in Salem has pro- vided a personalized cake for every birthday child over the past two years. Keizer Cham- ber, Rotary and Fire Depart- ment and many others have also donated to the cause. “I would like people to know how much I appreci- ate their support,” Perez said. “We couldn’t sustain this. There’s no way. We wouldn’t have the resources. We don’t have the time. We’ve talked so many times how mean- ingful that is to us.” When a group of West- ern Oregon University stu- dents organized a party for a class project, they came back transformed. “They were all excited but it wasn’t actually until they came to the shelter and interacted with the kids did they really realize the im- pact that they were having and their professor at West- ern told us for a lot of those kids, that one experience and that day that they spent at the shelter was just transfor- mational for them because a lot of those kids had never interacted with the home- less population,” Blasi said. “We’re trying to communi- cate to the community about what homelessness really looks like so the other thing we would absolutely love is for people to reach out to us and if they’re at all interested, to come to a party, to volun- teer at a party.” For more information on Simply Birthdays, including dates of parties and other ways to help, visit simply- birthdays.org.