On this day, one year ago, Birthday Blessings became an idea.
For those who don’t know the story, our church was doing a sermon series called “Sent”. The take home point of the series was that we are all priests, and everything around us is our parish. Our parishes don’t have to be missions around the globe helping others, but our parish can simply be walking across the street within our own communities. The second week of the series, I got a nudge from God. I couldn’t really tell what He was trying to say from me, nor did I even know if it was from God at all, so I dismissed it and went about my week. The next week, I had that same nudge happen and it was a little bit stronger. I still dismissed it, but I was definitely aware that it was God trying to tell me something. I let it go again, but throughout the week, I definitely began thinking about what God might be telling me. The final week of the series, that same nudge hit me harder and God spoke – cakes and Kids. I immediately sat up in my chair, and just widened my eyes. Those two words were in my head and they were there to stay. I looked at Jordan, sitting beside me obviously, and whacked him in the chest. I told him, “I know what God wants me to do!”. So, I told him, and he just looked at me and said, “Oh. Cool!”. I could not let it go out of my head, so I started talking to Jordan again during service, and in the rest of that timeslot, we spent forumulating what we could do, who we could serve, where we could serve and potentially a website design. So much for listening to the rest of the sermon. 🙂
We realized that we were about ready to be commissioned by our church as being priests, so we put our talk on hold, got commissioned by our pastor, then we left church starting the whole process again. We talked about a name for this new venture – Birthday Blessings – but I wasn’t sure if that was really what it was going to be called.
Two weeks later, I talked with my partner, Jill, a school psychologist at the time, and asked her if she had any students who may need this service. I can still remember her email. It was ecstatic, and she was throwing out ideas left and right. It was then that we became partners. She also came up with the name Birthday Blessings, and I knew in my heart, that is what God wanted this organization to be named.
Over the course of the month of May, we talked with our community impact pastor for names, phone numbers for potential service centers to work with. Jordan (my husband), at the same time, had a co-worker who was leaving that business and moving to Catholic Charities in Northeast Kansas City, KS. She told Jordan that she would give my name and number to the director and to see if our services could be used for that particular center. At the end of May, we had our first education center who was using us to help their kids with their birthday needs.
We were official. Between Jill and I, we baked cakes and gave gifts and balloons to these children. Little by little over the course of a few months, our volunteer base grew. In 6 months time, we had about 20-30 volunteers. We wanted to expand, but we were just unsure if our volunteer base was really big enough to tackle on more schools/education centers. By nine months, we increased our volunteer base to over 60 volunteers and we began expanding.
To this date, we have served a little over 70 children within the Bonner Springs, Edwardsville, immediate Kansas City, KS areas. We’d love to get more into the inner city where the need is greater, but God wants us right here at home right now.
Over the past year, I’ve looked back to see how much God has prepared me. Starting in 2010, I started watching The Cake Boss and thinking that I could do the basics of what he could do. I started attempting cakes with buttercream. Then as I was learning more skills, I started doing my own cake mixes, my own buttercreams, and tackling on the world of fondant. My passion for baking and my passion for children really made this all come to light a year ago today.
The volunteers who are working with us have been wonderful. They’ve come through for us on many occasions when there were last minute applications, and they have shown that this is also their passion. Having everyone on the same page and everyone having the same passion as Jill and I do, makes this work.
Jill has been an awesome partner. She keeps me grounded, she tells me like it is and she makes me think. Birthday Blessings really would not be where it is today without her. She had the connectons, she has the administrative skills, and she is a leader. I’m so thankful that she is by my side.
Happy Anniversary to all those who are a part of Birthday Blessings – KC. and to those who have watched this from the very beginning, I thank you for your support. It means so much to all of us!
~Kelly~
No Comments