Birthday wishes
do come true
child, regardless of their living situation,
should have their birthday recognized and
celebrated. We have found that something as simple and ‘normal’ as a birthday party has the power to make
homeless children feel simultaneously special and like a regular kid.”
Volunteers host and organize
the parties, bake cakes and make
“A lot of kids say, ‘I can’t wait for my
party next month, ’ ” she says. “On one hand,
you hope they’re not still at the shelter. But
on the other hand, it’s so rewarding to
know that, in their difficult situation,
these kids have something they’re looking
forward to.”—Kristin Baird Rattini
IN ;;;;, COSTCO member Kellie O’Brien
and her daughter, Heather, traveled from
their home in Hinsdale, Illinois, to Tanzania, in East Africa, to perform volunteer
work at a Franciscan convent. After learning that the local village lacked a primary
school, mother and daughter began gathering the funds and resources to open one.
“The village elders were asking for education for their children, who come from
cow-dung huts with no electricity, running
water or furniture. I turned to my daughter
and said, ‘This is the reason God sent us to
Tanzania—we’re going to build them a
School of love
KELLIE O’BRIEN
Adults standing from left
to right: Gabriel Mollel, a
village elder and school
committee chair; Norm
Stranczek, school board
member; and Kellie O’Brien,
school co-founder and board
president, surrounded by
students of the O’Brien
School of the Maasai.
Lisa Vasiloff
school,’ ” O’Brien recalls.
Within a matter of months, the O’Brien
School of the Maasai ( obrienschool.org)
opened its doors, offering year-round
instruction to kindergartners through
seventh-graders from ; a.m. to ;: ;; p.m.,
;ve days a week. Today, the institution is
rated in the top ;; percent of all schools
in Tanzania.
“All the students are dedicated to
becoming leaders in their village, but with a
di;erent future that isn’t predetermined by
poverty,” says O’Brien.
While the pupils demonstrate an eager-
ness to learn, hunger can interfere with
their classroom focus. O’Brien’s team raises
funds to buy bulk quantities of low-cost
foods, school supplies and clothes from
Costco that she ships back to the school.
“Four ;;-pound boxes of Quaker Oats
costs only ;;; yet feeds the entire school
breakfast for a day,” says O’Brien, who
recently sent ;;; boxes of the oats—enough
to feed the students plus their families for
two academic years.
“I believe all of us are called to leave this
world a better place,” she adds.
—Erik J. Martin
OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS
Click here for more about Birthday
Wishes. (See page 10 for details.)
INSPIRED BY hosting a birthday party
at a homeless shelter near her town of
Newton, Massachusetts, in ;;;;, Lisa
Vasilo; founded the nonpro;t organization Birthday Wishes (birthdaywishes.
org). In the ;; years since, she and her
team of ;;; volunteers have brought birthday joy to more than ;;,;;; children in
;;; homeless shelters across Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Long Island, New
York, with monthly birthday parties,
which provide gifts, games, decorations
and, of course, cake for children ages ; to ;;
with birthdays in that month.
“Birthday parties are a luxury that neither the parent nor the shelter can a;ord,
but a birthday is an important event in
the life of a child,” Vasilo; says. “Birthday
Wishes was founded on the belief that every
