October Birthday Dreams News | Gala Success, Community Support, In Person Volunteer Orientations

News, Updates & Opportunities

October 2021

2021 Gala of Dreams Success | Thank You!

Over 200 in-person guests and 100 virtual guests joined us at the The Gala of Dreams on Saturday, October 9th. The Gala was a huge success – raising over $178,000! It was incredible to see so many people come out in support of Birthday Dream! If you missed it, you can check out the full show by visiting the Birthday Dreams YouTube page here.

Our sincere thanks and appreciation to the entire team who made the event possible; our steering committee, event volunteers, sponsors (highlighted under our Club Corner), the Lindbergh High School string quartet, our guest speakers and of course our emcee, Meeghan Black, and our auctioneer, Ron Hippe.

Our event photographers captured so many fun and memorable moments during the Gala. If you are interested in seeing the photos taken, please check out the website to view those images here: Gala 2021 Photos

We’ll be back with The Gala of Dreams in the Fall of 2022!

This is Why We Do It!

For a mother who has struggled with homelessness and addiction for 18 years, being able to provide her son with an 11th birthday party was a was a monumental event.

In learning Birthday Dreams was a resource available to her, she said, "It was a huge relief being able to get help with my son's 11th birthday party." She commented that she was "super excited and nervous that it would happen".

Following the party, she said that her son thought "it was the best birthday party that he'd ever had." She said, "We really loved the thoughtfulness of the homemade Minecraft cake" and said her son, "loved the art supply kit as he is a very talented drawer and the kit made him so excited to pursue his drawings."

Community Partnership and Recognition

We would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to a long-time Gala supporter, Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort in Paradise, Montana. Our partners at the Resort have been a consistent Gala donor over the past few years. Their resort-stay package has always been a popular live auction item, but at this year’s event this auction item really did raise the excitement level! The bid war for the two Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort packages raised over $20,000 for Birthday Dreams! All we can say is… WOW and THANK YOU!!

Last month Birthday Dreams received some terrific volunteer support from the staff of Carmax of Renton. Their employees came to our HQ to "lend a hand in any way we most needed." We put them to work reorganizing our birthday toy vault, which was no small feat. The team of volunteers took their task seriously and as a result, our toy storage room looks like new! Thank you to Carmax and their employees for doing such an awesome job!

Recent Grant Awards

Each month Birthday Dreams receives grant awards from our terrific foundation partners. We would like to highlight the financial support from BNSF Railway Foundation.

This grant award of $2,500 will directly fund our Birthday-in-a-Box program. We are grateful to these foundations for their support - THANK YOU!

Volunteer Spotlight | Pam Brumlow

Pam Brumlow started volunteering with Birthday Dreams about 7 years ago. Pam was going through a sad time and found herself wanting to shift her focus to doing good for others. Pam has been instrumental in the Birthday Dreams Gala each year. She shares her creative talents and can be found putting elaborate gift baskets together for the silent auction or putting her creativity into the Gala décor. Pam has also spent time delivering birthdays to children over the past 7 years. These have been some of the most rewarding experiences that she has had with Birthday Dreams. She says her favorite moments with Birthday Dreams are seeing a child’s eyes light up when their birthday is delivered. Thank you, Pam, for all you have done for Birthday Dreams!

Awesome Cakes Delivered with Love

Mae McMullin delivered this Disney-themed cake along created by Natalie Sampson with Mickey Mouse party supplies, gift certificates and zoo tickets to make this a super "Sweet 16" to remember!

Check out the amazing rainbow cake Amara's Bakeshop baker Dawn Shaikh created for a birthday girl turning 5! Delivery driver extraordinaire Jim Waugh delivered the cake along with gifts wrapped in rainbow paper and a pretty bow.

For a sporty boy turning 15, this cake baked by Christina Schaefer-Habison was a SLAM DUNK! The cake, delivered by Jim Waugh, along with a basketball and video game gift card was a winning combination.

Get Involved

Volunteer Orientations and Opportunities

Upcoming in-person orientations:

Saturday, November 13th at 11am
Tuesday, November 16th at 6 pm

To sign up, email our Volunteer Coordinator, Tiffaney Jones, at Tiffaney@birthdaydreams.org for details.

Contact our Community Events Coordinator, Leah Battin, at Leah@birthdaydreams.org for team building and service project opportunities.

Cake bakers of all experience levels are needed! Contact Tiffaney@birthdaydreams.org for details.

Follow us on Facebook! Cake and delivery needs are posted weekly. A list of upcoming parties and party needs can be found here.

Club Corner

Birthday Dreams welcomes new and renewing Birthday Club members for September:

Alfaroh Corney III, Jennifer Dressing, Janet Moore, Daisy Quitugua – EXP Realty, Dawn & JayDee Dohrmann, Loya Brown, Christina and Mark Jarvis, Dolores Gibbons, Karen & Mark Gulin, Arika Zwack Josephson, and My Favorite Things.

A big THANK YOU to our amazing Birthday Club members!

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!