High School Students Planning Birthday Parties With A Purpose
At Homeward NYC on the Upper West Side, a multipurpose room gets transformed every month.
By raising monetary and in-kind donations, high school sophomores Riley Klasfeld and Cate McGee have been organizing monthly birthday parties for children and their mothers at their local shelter, so kids can celebrate and moms can build community.
“Generally, like seeing a kid’s face light up when you hand them a birthday present is more moving than anyone could imagine,” said McGee.
These parties offer a break from childcare to single mothers like 23-year-old Miyana West. She’s been bringing her three-year-old since moving into the shelter in November. West described it as a free period to relax, and that the parties save her from cooking at night.
For Jaina Bafadago, a single mother of two, the parties also create a sense of community.
“We just really have having a toddler and a newborn in this, because no one is allowed to visit you. Even if a friend wants to come in and just help you for a few hours, they will not accept it, and that’s a policy for the shelter,” she said.
The birthday parties are under the banner of the Mom Squad, a grassroots philanthropic activist community of mothers. Their aim is to build community in their neighborhood in Manhattan, and they host donation drives, community gatherings, these birthday parties, and more.
Riley and Kate’s mothers have been friends and volunteers with other mothers at the organization for four years and have seen firsthand the positive impact of creating this community.
What has gotten Cate’s mom Elizabeth through motherhood has been her community of moms, and she’s realized “that women who move around don’t necessarily have that community.”
“The fact that they’re single, that they have kids, their kids don’t always qualify for child care, they’ve moved and it takes a while for them to get into the school system. So it’s good that they have support here and that they have people that they feel that they can rely on,” said Louise Youngsen-Klasfeld, Riley’s mom.
While Riley and Kate may be graduating soon, the birthday parties aren’t going anywhere. They’re actively seeking for more volunteers and more donations so that children and their mothers will be able to continue to come enjoy good food, music, and even pick out a birthday present courtesy of the organization.
“This is our local community and I think being involved in it is so important. And just being able to play with the kids and maybe even get to know the moms a little bit, I think that’s just really important to be able to talk to somebody,” said Klasfeld.
Shailee Shah has always been an immigrant — and as a result, in constant pursuit of the feeling of home. It’s only befitting then, that she relishes in covering the housing beat for City Newsroom.