Northern Birthday Box Project brings kids a happy birthday
· Toronto Sun
Everybody loves a party — especially on their birthday. For kids living in remote northern areas of Canada, where supplies (and the funds to buy them) can be hard to come by, a party is not simple to pull off. Enter: The Northern Birthday Box Project.
This simple initiative supported by a group of enthusiastic party-loving Canadians pops all the party supplies — like cake mix, frosting, candles and decor — in a box to send to children for their very own party.
Visit umafrika.club for more information.
Parents provide information, including their child’s favourite cake and frosting flavours, as well as two themes for inspiration.
“We ask the (donors) to send two items within the theme, two items within their favourite colors, and then just enough items to provide a nice birthday party for the child,” explained one of the group’s moderators, Jennelle Jaggernauth. “So usually, they’ll send things like decorations, a lot will send cups and plates and napkins, things to make little loot bags or giveaways and things like that. We do leave it open to (donors) to add any little extras.”
Unfortunately, in recent months, the group has been struggling to find donors. While it has been operating its Facebook group for more than a decade, which boasts more than 40,000 members, engagement has slowed, and posts aren’t being seen, thanks in part to updates in Meta’s algorithms. This means some kids have been left without a party, something the group leadership is hoping to remedy.
Welcome to the group
In years past, there have been big booms of users joining the group excited to send a box, thanks to news coverage and a viral TikTok video.
Some years ago, there was a months-long waiting list for donors to send a box, and because of the influx of sponsors, the group facilitators were able to accommodate special requests. Organizer Koreyan Peterson said the group previously had many asks from donors, such as “people who were signing up to send a box in memory of … or they wanted to match their child’s birthday or gender.”
Now, with fewer sponsors, the matches made currently are not accommodated to specific requests. One downside to having so many interested donors on the wait list meant by the time the team contacted them, many had forgotten, lost interest, or could no longer afford to send a box. The viral video, in particular, Jaggernauth said, was a complete shock to the admin team. “I think in five to 10 minutes, there was 20,000 requests (to join the group) that came in. It took us over two years to get through all of the people who had requested to send a box.”
On the flip side
The perfect storm of declining participation, between the lack of views on group posts, sponsors’ changing financial situations, and labour issues with Canada Post over the past couple of years meant the Northern Birthday Box team was recently forced to cut off applications by parents, as matches for boxes became impossible to facilitate in a timely manner.
“We had to make the hard decision to cancel all of our March and April remaining birthdays,” Jaggernauth said. “So that roughly had us cancel almost 200 kids’ birthday boxes, and we started fresh with May.”
The group takes applications a couple of months out, which gives the sponsors time to shop for the items, pack up the box, and mail it out. Canada Post is the only delivery service that reaches the remote destinations where the boxes are sent, and most donors use a prepaid box, which helps keep shipping costs manageable.
Previously the group had more than 300 monthly donors, but now the team relies on a much smaller number of folks — some who send multiple boxes per month. Organizers stress this is something anyone can do. “We started out as sponsors,” says Peterson. “It was so much fun to shop for this person, this person I don’t even know.”
Giving a box is done with no expectation in return: “I’ve always related it to the tree that you see at Christmas in Canadian Tire, and you take a name off of that, you buy a gift and you bring it back. You don’t expect that child to send you a thank you note. It’s just something that you’re doing because it’s in your heart to do it. And so, we say the same thing, except in this way, it is a little bit more personal because you’re curating it,” Peterson said.
While it’s not mandatory, many of the recipient families do post adorable photos of the smiling kids with their Birthday Box — both Peterson and Jaggernauth heartily agree those posts are beloved by group members.
Packing party
Sometimes donors aren’t able to find things that fit either of the requested themes, and get a little creative: “We always encourage people that if you’ve got your crafty side and you want to send something that you’ve made, I see sometimes people send different signs or banners that have the child’s name,” said Jaggernauth. “A lot of times, the families that are applying are requesting themes that are either hard to find, even for us down here, or they don’t exist … so people get kind of crafty.”
Peterson relayed a favourite memory of a box someone sent where the donor turned everyday items into a zombie party. “She turned all of the candy bars and all the stuff in there had zombie theme on it. And it was really neat.”
Signing up?
Signing up to send a box: First, navigate to the Facebook group, found under The Northern Birthday Box Project Group. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1692466914374665) Group organizers will post when they are seeking new donors, and users can comment on the post indicating interest. Match coordinator Jenny will then reach out with the relevant information and instructions on all the items to include in the box. Boxes are typically mailed out a month in advance of the birthday.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO