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News, Updates & Opportunities
July 2021
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2021 Birthday Dreams Gala |
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Save the Date:
The Gala of Dreams
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We are pleased to announce that the date for our annual fall fundraiser and auction is set!
Mark your calendars to attend The Gala of Dreams on Saturday, October 9th!
This year’s event will be both in-person and virtual so everyone can attend, have fun, and support Birthday Dreams. The in-person event will be held at the beautiful and stylish Hyatt Regency Lake Washington in Renton.
We will be mailing the official save-the-date card out soon, so keep an eye out for that!
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We have a request for all Birthday Club members! We are actively seeking out items to procure for the event auction (both silent auction and live auction items). If you - or any of your friends/family/colleagues – have a lead on an exciting auction item we can use your help to build up our auction catalogue. We are specifically looking for items in the following categories:
1. Experiences (travel, hotel stays, skydiving, outdoor adventures, etc.)
2. Food/Beverage (restaurant gift cards, beer/wine/alcohol packages, wine tasting tours, etc.)
3. Fun, Family, and Leisure (golf, bowling, theme parks, museums, etc.)
4. Physical items (jewelry, art, laptop computers/gaming systems, etc.)
So, if you have any connections/leads on these auction item categories, please do feel free to reach out to us and we can work out a way to move forward with a procurement effort. Please contact Jarod Drozdowski, Development Director by phone at (425) 524-4705 or by email at jarod@birthdaydreams.org with your auction item leads. THANK YOU!
A very special thank you to all of our event sponsors for their support of The Gala of Dreams: Alaska Airlines, Banner Bank, BECU, Black Cat Studios, Delightful Communications, Delta Kappa Gamma, Edward Jones, First Financial Northwest Bank, John & Linda Middlebrooks, Lighting the Sound Productions, Mustard Seed Communications, Barb Nilson, Northup Fundraising, Stor-House Self Storage, and Shutter Sauce.
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Doors Open For Volunteers! |
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The Birthday Dreams family is excited to welcome our amazing volunteers back into the office. We have missed you!
Volunteering is by appointment as we will still be practicing distancing measures onsite and do not want to over-crowd the office space. We will continue to provide a clean and safe office environment by practicing good hygiene – hand washing, using hand sanitizer, etc.
If you are a volunteer – or are interested in volunteering – and would like more information about our policies and practices, please feel free to reach out to Tiffaney Jones, Volunteer Coordinator, at (425) 988-3954 or by email at tiffaney@birthdaydreams.org.
Thank you for helping us carry out our mission of providing homeless children the joyful experience of being celebrated on their birthday.
WELCOME BACK!!
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We believe every child should be celebrated on their special day, and we are honored to help make that possible. This past year+ has been incredibly difficult for everyone, especially homeless children and their parents. To keep Birthday Dreams moving forward in our mission to bring hope, joy and a sense of self-worth to homeless children with the gift of a birthday party, we ask you to consider donating to our cause which will allow us to continue this important work. Thank you!
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It's Hard to Say Goodbye
It is with mixed emotions that we announce the resignation of Andrea Bates as Birthday Dreams’ Program Director. Andrea started with us in 2013, as an intern through the Career Path Services program. She jumped right in and helped us get organized and streamlined in the office. Shannon and I quickly realized that we could not live without her when her internship was up, so we worked with the Board of Directors to be able to offer her a part-time position as the Office Manager.
Andrea has worn so many different hats while at Birthday Dreams, from HR, purchasing, and inventory to coordinating volunteers, outreach, and parties. She has also served on the Finance, Marketing and Development committees, as well as being an integral part of the gala and other fundraising events.
When we outgrew our office in Liberty Park, Andrea and her husband Marcus were rocks stars at renovating the new office space to make it perfect. They spent so much time and effort that they were presented with the Renovation Heroes Award at the 2018 Gala.
We are very proud of Andrea for returning to school and earning her AAS in Engineering Design Technology. We will miss her dedication, empathy, resourcefulness, and loving spirit. As she begins the next exciting phase of life in her new career, all of us at Birthday Dreams wish her well in her new adventures!
Best Wishes from all of us at Birthday Dreams, Andrea!
Chris , Tiffaney , Jarod , Robbie , Becky , Lee
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Board Updates
Birthday Dreams is excited to announce that Jan Martinell has joined the Board of Directors. She has also taken on the volunteer position of Marketing Director and can be found in the office on Fridays wrapping gifts. Jan is already making a positive impact in the organization!
Jan has been with PepsiCo for 22 years. As a seasoned marketing leader, she is passionate about brand integrity, solution strategies, and building strong professionally diverse teams. Credited with creating a ground up printing process and scaling to create a single National Asset organization servicing 400+ locations.
In her free time, Jan can be found helping small business entrepreneurs build their brand, off-roading with her husband Chad (and a goofy pup named Pip who has one floppy Lab ear and one pointed Shepherd ear), playing board games or entertaining at home around the BBQ.
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Recent Grant Awards
Last month, Birthday Dreams was awarded several grant awards from local, national, and international, foundations. We greatly appreciate the financial support from the following grant funders:
- The Lawrence Foundation
- Puyallup Tribe
- DWF Foundation
- Windermere Foundation
- Tulalip Tribes Charitable Fund
These grant awards total $18,900 and all will directly fund our Birthday-in-a-Box program. We are grateful to each of these wonderful donors for their support!
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A BIG thank you to our amazing donors: |
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Volunteer Spotlight | Clayton |
We are excited to have Clayton Pantano, owner of Entrust Marketing, join our volunteer Marketing Team to help us continue to build and grow our social strategy! We couldn't be more thankful for the experience and knowledge he brings with him! Thank you, Clayton, for jumping right in, sharing our mission with your circle and helping us continue to celebrate kids in the Puget Sound! |
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Awesome Cakes from Awesome Volunteer Cake Bakers |
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An active 4 year old boy requested a rainbow party so Jaime Kang created this adorable rainbow cake for him. Brenna delivered his party. He was excited to receive a scooter, helmet, teddy bear and art supplies. |
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Cherie Katana created this adorable Mickie Mouse cake for an equally adorable 3 year old boy. Jim Waugh had the pleasure of delivering his birthday party. He was gifted a monster truck, foam football, inflatable pool, and books. |
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Festive cupcakes by Jennie Jaeger for a special 17 year old girl. Laurel Tomchick delivered the Birthday-in-a-Box, which included Nike-wear, cookies, cards, a book and beauty supplies. |
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Orangetheory Fitness Partnership
This past month, Birthday Dreams partnered with Orangetheory Fitness in the Renton Highlands neighborhood on a fundraising drive. Orangetheory Fitness selects local charities each month to organize a fundraiser for them. Birthday Dreams was selected as their benefitting charity for this fundraiser on the June 4-6 weekend and their members raised over $800 for our organization! Our sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to Orangetheory Fitness, their members, and particularly to Dani Hauschild and Nicole Wright, who provided the spark to make this awesome fundraising drive happen!
THANK YOU!
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We are thrilled to announce we are once again offering in-person orientations:
- Saturday, July 10th at 11 am
- Wednesday, July 20th at 6pm
Contact our Community Events Coordinator, Leah Battin, at Leah@birthdaydreams.org for team building and service project opportunities.
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Follow us on Facebook! Cake and delivery needs are posted weekly. A list of upcoming parties and party needs can be found here.
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Club Corner
Birthday Dreams welcomes new and renewing Birthday Club members: Tulalip Tribes, Crumbl Cookies, Microsoft Matching Gifts Program, The Lawrence Foundation, Teri Franklin, Bob Louden, Melanie Ondruska, Glassybaby Foundation, Kendra Scott Jewelry, Cory Wallace, Kelsey Mejlaender, Carla Schippers, Debra Tito, Cheryl Webber, James Waugh, Michelle Heffron, Jacqueline Beaumont, Rick and Teri Katzer, Priya Priyadarshini, and Mary Reeder.
A big THANK YOU to our amazing Birthday Club members!
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We encourage you to continue spreading the word about Birthday Dreams to your friends, family, and colleagues so we can keep growing our Club roster with even more amazing people! |
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