The birthday kits include cake mix, icing, candles, some decorations, and a gift. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

A local non-profit is making sure no child will go out without a birthday cake on their special day.

To help support low-income or single-parent families who might not be able to offer a birthday cake or decorations for their children’s birthday, Risebridge has started offering free birthday kits.

Marnie Boers, director of Risebridge, said the idea came from when a local non-profit, Mamas for Mamas, first ran a program where they would hand out free birthday party kits to low-income or single mothers. When the Mamas for Mamas Nanaimo office closed, Boers said they wanted to fill in the gaps for the birthday kit program.

“We actually did receive beautiful support from one of the Rotary groups in Nanaimo. They gave us $500 through [Nanaimo] Rotary Daybreak,” Boers said. “That was able to kind of kick off the program a little bit more.”

Boers said a program like this is important for families with low-incomes, as throwing birthday parties for their children can be very expensive.

“You know, by the time you kind of get all these little pieces, they can add up to $50, $60, $70,” she said. “So it's just really to make sure that it was accessible for somebody.”

Parents can sign up for a birthday kit by emailing Risebridge with the kids' ages and interests.

The kits include cake mix, icing, candles, some decorations, and a gift.

“So this week, we're handing out one that's Spider-Man themed. So we're able to do a big birthday banner, coloured balloons, and also some other little ribbons and things like that,” she said. “Just so when you walk down into your kitchen or whatever, in the morning, you can have quite a few little decorations up that makes the kiddo happy and excited for their birthday.”

While Boers was prepping these kits, she realized that many of the cake mixture boxes called for eggs and milk, two ingredients that can be very costly for some families. To find ways around using eggs and milk with the cake mixes, she learned that a can of club soda works just as well.

“So we've actually included a can of club soda in each kit as well. I have a friend who does home economics, and she told me the trick is you can use that instead of eggs or milk, and it makes it just as fluffy,” she said. “So it definitely cuts down on the cost, especially when families are using the food bank. You might not have those extra eggs and milk to be able to make a cake mix.”

Since Risebridge started offering the program about a month ago, Boers said they have handed out over 8 kits so far.

As well, Boers said, a benefit of running this program is having people come to Risebridge to pick up their kit. There, they can learn more about the other resources Risebridge provides.

“We can hand out snack bags to them if they need some extra support for lunches that week. We can hand out period products to them, we always have an abundance of that,” she said. “So it's also just like an extra step of being able to connect with them and support them in other ways as well. Most families that have come in–or moms that have come in to pick up the items for their kids have left with more than just a birthday bag.”

The program is available for children and teenagers.

Currently, with funding from a local Rotary group, Boers said the funding will last them for the next couple of months. But she said they are happy to take in any donations of birthday cake or birthday decoration supplies.

They added cake-making supplies to the Risebridge Amazon wish list for people to purchase and donate directly to the program.

“We also take financial donations as well. Each kit is probably worth about $20 to $25. Then we also have some toys and things that we get donated, or books from other people who have donated a bunch of children's books,” she said. “Also, just because books are my love language, I make sure every bag has a book in it because I think it's important just to support reading and those kinds of things.”

Family members can sign up for a kit by emailing Risebridge. Pick up for the kits is at 520 Prideaux St, every Tuesday from between 10:00 a.m. and noon.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.