What is Birthday Club
Birthday Club was created in 2006 by FLOC as a way to ensure that all children, ages 0 – 18, in the Montgomery County Children’s Services foster care program receive recognition on their birthdays by delivering a card and present during their birthday month. Before this program started, nearly 60% of the children in the county’s foster care program did not even know their actual date of birth. Thanks to the efforts of FLOC and the private investigators that they worked with who provided pro-bono services to help research these dates, every single child in Montgomery County Children’s Services now knows their date of birth. This has proved to be a gift on its own as it provides these children with a crucial part of their identity!
How Birthday Club Works
Each month, the Birthday Club subcommittee receives an average of 200-300 names and birthdates from a liaison within Children’s Services identifying the children with birthdays in the following month. The subcommittee, made up of five volunteers, then uses the allotted funds ($300-400 per month) to purchase cards and gifts for these children. On the first day of their birthday month, these items are then mailed to the homes where each of these children resides. For some children, this is the only recognition they will receive for their birthday. This is repeated every year that the children remain in the care of Montgomery County which gives these children the comfort of knowing that each year someone will be celebrating with them. The monies used to purchase these cards and gifts are funded by donations from local businesses as well as monetary donations received by FLOC. Volunteers are used to help coordinate, assemble and mail out the gifts to the children.
How You Can Help
The two best ways to help support the Birthday Club program are by volunteering your time or making a financial donation. Monetary donations may be used to purchase a gift for the foster child who otherwise may not receive any, or may be used to help track down birth dates. You can also volunteer at FLOC, specifically for the Birthday Club subcommittee, and you can make birthday cards to send to children represented in our program.
COVID-19 Impact
While the COVID-19 situation has restricted some FLOC programs, the Birthday Club remains active and continues to look for volunteer to help with distributing gifts to children in a very safe and healthy manner.