Maple Grove Families Join Together for Birthday Bag Blitz

Summer hasn’t been just for relaxing for one group of children. It was about a birthday blitz.

In all, 14 children part of eight families took time out of their summer break to give back by making 108 birthday gift bags for those in need.

“My office held a blitz a month ago and I wanted to beat their number of bags assembled. This is the first time I arranged this and all the moms involved have already told me they want to make it an annual event,” organizer and mother Jean Tate wrote in an email to Patch. “Our office donates to a Minneapolis food shelf who mentioned parents were picking out favorite cereals as their child's birthday gift because they couldn't afford anything else. All kids deserve a birthday gift! Now when parents go to the food shelf they will be able to give their child a birthday present.”

Nine families donated all of the items for the birthday bags, including toothbrushes, stuffed animals, pencils, stickers, bubbles, coloring books, crayons and more.

“The kids had a blast assembling the birthday bags,” Tate wrote, stating the group also had birthday cake and sang to the children who would eventually receive the birthday bags. “It was important to make sure the kids understood the meaning behind our project.”

Tate hopes the birthday bag blitz will become an annual event with more families involved to create more than 200 bags.

Which children volunteered? Jordan and Ellie Bolland; Andrew and Madison Hopfer; Jonathan Green; Adamson, Ben, Rowan, and Eliana Novak; Tyler Juliot; Alyssa and Allison Sonnek; Brock and Annika Olson.

“All of the kids are part of the Fernbrook Elementary family,” Tate wrote.

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