Birthday Picnics

“Who would give $25 to provide a birthday party for a child who’s never had one before?” This was the challenge to my friends on social media. The response was enough to keep CDI partying for the rest of the year! The hope is to give every child at the local institution for children with special needs a birthday to remember.

For the first two parties CDI staff and volunteers brought children to a hill near the city where they could be out in nature, pick flowers and get outside the institution. For many of the children it was their first trip to the hill; they gazed with round eyes as they drove through trees and saw their first glimpse of distant mountains.

Sitting in the shade of pistachio trees, the children feasted on homemade sandwiches and birthday cake, fruit, juice and carrot salad. The first trip was with girls who can walk, so they strolled along the hill picking flowers before gathering to play volleyball. The second group is more mobility-challenged, so they did crayon rubbings of leaves and flowers.At the end of both picnics the children were told how these parties were made possible; they said a big “Thank You!”